<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

The accumulation of plutonium produced by LWR operations causes public concern related to its radiotoxicity and proliferation issue. Therefore, there is some interest in developing various methods for consuming plutonium through plutonium incineration i.e., by utilising thorium-based nuclear fuel. Thorium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel (Thorium MOX) is an attractive option considered for plutonium incineration. The aim of the study is to investigate the neutronic characteristics of Thorium MOX fuel in VVER-1000 nuclear reactor fuel assemblies. The VVER-1000 Benchmark model was utilised in the present study. A series of calculations were performed with the MCNP6 code and the ENDF/B-VII library. The calculation results show that a proper increase in Pu content could increase <italic>k</italic>inf of ThMOX fuel, so it could have almost the same <italic>k</italic>inf with MOX fuel or increase Pu content when needed. It was also shown that Thorium MOX fuel assembly had more negative Doppler reactivity due to neutron capture by thorium (232Th). The moderator temperature coefficient was found to be more negative than the Doppler coefficient, and it could be concluded that replacing uranium with thorium could reduce the amount of plutonium produced while increasing plutonium consumption.
</abstract>

The accumulation of plutonium produced by LWR operations causes public concern related to its radiotoxicity and proliferation issue. Therefore, there is some interest in developing various methods for consuming plutonium through plutonium incineration i.e., by utilising thorium-based nuclear fuel. Thorium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel (Thorium MOX) is an attractive option considered for plutonium incineration. The aim of the study is to investigate the neutronic characteristics of Thorium MOX fuel in VVER-1000 nuclear reactor fuel assemblies. The VVER-1000 Benchmark model was utilised in the present study. A series of calculations were performed with the MCNP6 code and the ENDF/B-VII library. The calculation results show that a proper increase in Pu content could increase kinf of ThMOX fuel, so it could have almost the same kinf with MOX fuel or increase Pu content when needed. It was also shown that Thorium MOX fuel assembly had more negative Doppler reactivity due to neutron capture by thorium (232Th). The moderator temperature coefficient was found to be more negative than the Doppler coefficient, and it could be concluded that replacing uranium with thorium could reduce the amount of plutonium produced while increasing plutonium consumption.

Neutronic Investigation on Thorium Mox Fuel in Vver-1000 Reactor Assembly

Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Neutronic Investigation on Thorium Mox Fuel in Vver-1000 Reactor Assembly"}

The accumulation of plutonium produced by LWR operations causes public concern related to its radiotoxicity and proliferation issue. Therefore, there is some...

Neutronic Investigation on Thorium Mox Fuel in Vver-1000 Reactor Assembly

Published Online: May 30, 2024

Page range: 90 - 104

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lpts-2024-0023

Keywords
ENDF/B-VII, MCNP6, thorium MOX, VVER-1000 reactor assembly

© 2024 Zuhair et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Neutronic Investigation on Thorium Mox Fuel in Vver-1000 Reactor Assembly

Published Online: May 30, 2024

Page range: 90 - 104

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lpts-2024-0023

KeywordsENDF/B-VII, MCNP6, thorium MOX, VVER-1000 reactor assembly

© 2024 Zuhair et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
ENDF/B-VII, MCNP6, thorium MOX, VVER-1000 reactor assembly