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4-60 given materials, particularly for oxide LMFBR fuel and sodium. Although there is no con- clusive theoretical and/or experimental evidence, the most widely accepted theory is that for an energetic'vapor explosion to occur, there must be intimate liquid-liquid contact of the fragmented molten fuel particles and the contact temperature at the fuel-sodium surface must exceed the temperature required for homogeneous nucleation of the sodium. A considerable amount of evidence exists to suggest that for oxide fuel in the reactor environment, the potential for a large-scale vapor explosion is extremely remote. The key factor is the relatively low thermal conductivity of the oxide fuel, which does not permit rapid enough heat transfer from the fuel to cause the fuel-sodium contact temperature to exceed the sodi um homogeneous nucleation temperature, The primary difference between carbide and/or metal fuels as opposed to oxide fuels is their relatively higher thermal conductivity. Under typical assumed accident conditions, it is possible to calculate coolant temperatures which exceed the sodium homogeneous nucleation temperature. This does not mean, however, that a large-scale FCI will necessarily occur for carbide-sodium or metal-sodium systems. As noted above, these theories as mechanisms for vapor explosion have not been completely substantiated. However, insofar as the homogeneous nucleation criterion is adequate, it is clear that the potential for largescale vapor explosion, at least in clean laboratory systems, is greater for carbide or metal in sodium than for oxide in sodium. Continued theoretical and experimental study is necessary to gain a thorough understanding of the details of the mechanisms involved and to estimate the likelihood for vapor explosion under reactor accident conditions for any breeder system. Breeding Performance of Alternate Fuel Schemes Table 4.6-2 shows that in terms of fissile production, the reference Pu/U core with U blankets gives the best breeding performance regardless of fuel type (oxide, carbide, or metal). For the carbide systems considered, a heterogeneous core design using Pu/U carbide fuel with a U carbide blanket gives a breeding ratio of 1.550. For the metal systems considered, a nominal two-zone homogeneous. core design using U-Pu-Zr alloy fuel gives a breeding ratio of 1.614. The increased fissile production capability of the carbide and metal fuels is especially advantageous for the denatured cycles. A breeding ratio as high as 1.4 has been calculated for a metal denatured system, and the breeding ratio for a carbide denatured system is not expected to be substantially smaller. However, a good part of the fissile production of any denatured system is plutonium. Thus the denatured system is not a good producer of 233U. However, when used with the energy park concept, where the plutonium produced by the denatured systems can be used as a fuel, the denatured carbide and metal uranium systems are viable concepts. Metal and carbide concepts may also prove to be valuable as transmuter systems for producing 233U from 232Th. I - 1 t: L I: L' I:
- i b k L L -- I , b -- I .- I Li L -'i i' b 4-61 Table 4.6-2. Beginning-of-Life Breeding Ratios for Various LMFBR Fuel Concepts Breeding Ratio Oxide Carbide Metal Fuela Blanket Fuels Fuels Fuels J Pu/2W (reference) 23811 1 .44b 1. 550b 1 .62gC *33U/238U/p~-Zr 23811 1.614 233~/238U/pu-Zr Th 1.537 33U/238U/P~/Th 238u 1.532 23 3U/2 38U/Pu/Th Th 1.406 Pu/Th Th 1.3ob 1.353b 1.38lC 233U/Th Th 1.041 1.044 1.1O!jc 23%/Th Th 0.786 0.817 0. 906c 233U/238U-Zr (denatured) Th 1 .41b 'All Pu i s LWR discharge Pu. 'Radial heterogeneous design. cFrom ref. 2. Of the thorium metal systems considered, the U/Pu/Th ternary metal system was found to to be the best 233U producer. be irradiated at temperatures up to 700?C with burnups of up to 5.6 at.%.5 Beginning-of- cycle breeding ratios around 1.4 have been calculated for this system, and it appears that optimization of core and blanket geometry may increase the breeding ratio to as high as 1.5. It is also clear that the equilibrium cycle breeding ratio may be as much as 10% higher due to the flux increase in the blankets from the 233U production. This system not only is a pure 233U producer (no plutonium is produced), but also acts as a plutonium sink by burning plutonium produced in light-water reactors. Summary and Conclusions Irradiation experiments have shown that the U/Pu/Th alloy can Both carbide- and metal-based fuels have larger breeding gains and potentially lower doubling times than the oxide-based fuels. design aspect (especially for 233U/Th concepts with their inherently lower breeding gains), these advantages are enhanced even more. resistant nuclear design, the carbide- and metal-fueled reactors have the potential to contribute extensively to the energy requirements of this country in the future. the first step is to establish carbide and metal fuel data bases similar to the present data base for oxide fuels, particularly for safety analyses. Present development plans for carbide and metal fuels call for a lead concept selection for the carbide fuels by $1981, with the metal fuel selection coming in $1984. When the proliferation issue is considered in the In light of the emphasis on proliferation- However,
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Interim Assessment of the Denatured
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i L i b I, i L L bi L L Contract No
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1, L L t i Ltr 1 L L V PREFACE AND
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L i Li 1, I b k b id ii t L id b i
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I L bi i; L 7.3.1. Possible Procedu
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i xi I b L ABSTRACT A fuel cycle th
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I b .- i, hd t t CHAPTER 1 INTRODUC
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- - I 4d _- t .- ! Lili L Ld id .-
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L .- k id .- I L: _ - I iclr .- i b
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I, G - -- I id ..- ! I _. I: L _.-
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huJ -- AI I ' b --- I bl --- t L L
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-- t Li - I' b -. c (u I i ai L i i
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L - i' u i Lt L r- L t- b L 2-7 den
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2-9 1. Nuclear power is limited to
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e Isr i L i- b t CHAPTER 3 ISOTOPIC
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232" Fig. 3.0-1. Decay of 232U. ORN
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3-6 3.1. ESTIMATED U CONCENTRATIONS
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3-8 The values in Table 3.1-2 are a
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3-1 0 3.2. RADIOLOGICAL HAZARDS OF
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3-1 2 232u IN RECYCLED HTGR FUEL (p
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3-14 3.2.2 Toxicity of 232Th Given
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
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3.18 There are three approaches whi
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1 i i 3-20 3.3.2. Fabrication and H
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The 3-22 3.3.3 Detection and Assay
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3-24 3.3.4. Potential Circumvention
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3-26 - either large centrifuge pilo
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! 3-28 Table 3.3-3. Enriched Proauc
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3-30 The high alpha activity of ura
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3- 32 Table 3.3-7. Sumry of Results
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3-34 statistical redundancy through
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introduce time, cost and visibility
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3-38 An additional factor relative
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I b t I t L 1; L t ki 4.0. 4.1. CHA
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L L _ _ { i J _- \ I b B u il c _.
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Y m I I I . aro ID0 10.00 4-5 ORNL-
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t .. -. F 4d -- I ' L 0- 122, L _-
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Page 87 and 88: u -- x i I*i 1- bi 4-1 7 The use of
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Page 91 and 92: 4-21 Case B" is a modification of C
Page 93 and 94: c 4-23 L i a L L 4.2. SPECTRAL-SHIF
Page 95 and 96: 4-25 Initial analyses of spectral-s
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Page 99 and 100: c- i L L e I b 4-29 . safeguards fo
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Page 105 and 106: F-- I iJ L ii - L c c 4-35 Referenc
Page 107 and 108: c r- L i] L h L __ f; t 4-37 trons
Page 109 and 110: Table 4.4-1. Fuel Utilization Chara
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Page 113 and 114: 4-43 Table 4.4-4. PBR Coated Partic
Page 115 and 116: HEU/Th 0.59 Seed i3 Breed 0.58 HEU/
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Page 121 and 122: ments. 4-51 The calculations for LM
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Page 125 and 126: Table 4.6-1. Comparison of Fuel Uti
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Page 129: 4-59 Most of the information availa
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Page 138 and 139: ! 5-4 5.1. REACTOR RESEARCH AND DEV
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Page 148 and 149: 5-1 4 The first aspect of large pla
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Page 152 and 153: I DATA BASE DEMu)pMENT DEMO DESIGN
Page 154 and 155: j ~ 5-20 The R,D&D costs are highes
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Page 160 and 161: 5-26 program, including hot testing
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Page 164 and 165: 6-4 persed areas ensured - a fact w
Page 166 and 167: 6-6 6.1.2. Reactor Options The reac
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Page 170 and 171: 6-10 6.1.3. Nuclear Policy Options,
Page 172 and 173: Table 6.1-4. Nuclear Policy Options
Page 174 and 175: SWU SWU 6-14 UZJS USILEINS WYI U5IL
Page 176 and 177: 6-16 n nM MEDL nows.1 Option 4: In
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SRCIFIED CONSTRUCTION LlMllLD INTRO
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50- 40 6-22 c Y \ VL - :-: F 30- -
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6-24 The potential nuclear contribu
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%- f $400 J 2 s 2, 1 THE LWR FOLLOW
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141.6 ST - U308 4 7.2 lo3 swu ENRIC
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6-30 reactor. Since this increase i
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‘9. ,1 ST ‘3O8 6-32 12 Kg HM I
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6-34 1HE LWR WITH FISSILE UUNIUM PC
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THE LWR WITH PURONIUM MlNUllUTlON A
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6-38 be located in energy centers a
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6-40 installed capacity must be han
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lm, 1 I I I I mf RR WITH UGHT rwrmi
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6-44 6.2.7. Converter-Breeder Syste
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25.2 ST swu 6-46 19 Kg fir Pu 13 Kg
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6-48 Table 6.3-2. Summary of Result
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6-50 (4) If all plutonium produced
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I d r-- 1 > w I r- k z r L id r- .
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L 1 L u without benefit of U.S. exp
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L a, - L i -- k; L t IJ L 7-7 While
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7-9 Viewed solely from the plutoniu
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L L i; i; 7-1 1 routinely in LWRs a
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'I 7-1 3 t I: k: The isotopic compo
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U L L L L ld 1 i" * required 233U m
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I I, i 7-1 7 ii I 1 I L L k L i Thr
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li i i L Li L & I ' i kr ii L i h i
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7-21 7.3. PROSPECTS FOR IMPLEMENTAT
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L I L t L i L i 1 L 7-23 7.3.1. Pos
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7-25 7.3.2. Considerations in Comme
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.. I b k; L; i b b 1J I L 7-27 cycl
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7-29 7.4. ADEQUACY OF NUCLEAR POWER
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L i' hd .- - I ' i t L i' b i -' b
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x ibd 1 .. I i, L -- i t Table 7.4-
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7-35 cycled in Pu/Th converters, th
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L 1' b I_- ,- i b -- I ' b L 7-37 T
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..a 4 I- 1 ' u c1 Y u L 7-39 betwee
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L e, I I ' lb t 7-41 Systems that u
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e-. . ! hr L3 z i- b: i- b L c i li
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7-45 j I Table 7.5-1. Integrated As
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- isi. c ‘Id i L c 7-47 Although
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e Other e e e On the e 7-49 technol
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t a APPENDICES
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A-3 Appendix A. ISOTOPE SEPARATION
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I] 1- $i ill 8 LI b' The Gas Centri
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id A- 7 The Component Preparation L
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i ?L 1- U t L fl bi L c u La -- ti
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p; ‘U i-- L ,c c Japan A-1 1 Tabl
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13 A-13 L" efficient of the units d
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L L L t I h h u L; _- t f is throug
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u A-1 Aerodynamic Methods 7 Both th
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i i d .- I . ii hi L i: i t ' Li 1
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la t L I I, lj ir 1 Li c I L L' B-1
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i; 1 t u 1 1 B-3 Table 8.5. Reactor
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Table 6-7. Marginal Costs of U308 a
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LJ L L1 a .E 4' P Y W 5 18 2 16 : 0
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Appendix C. DETAILED RESULTS FROM E
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1 i; Li b L lkd t L L I hd I ' L; i
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L c-5 The introduction of the class
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i ' ibd 1 b i L L i L I Li . . b b
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E , 1 ' b _. I ' L 1 b _- i G i' b
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-, ii I ; b i- ii L b 4 i L L i‘
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_- I ii I _ _ I L I td C i b L i, L
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Qulatiw klur W i t y hilt (*I thrmg
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L c c b - i ii L r D-1 Appendix D.
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L L L L [i i” Table D -2. Maximum
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Fig. D-2 (cont.) 25W I I I I I (I)
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[i energy center. It can be seen fr
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L L i il L t W 0-9 Table D-4. Summa
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-- Lid c i' .- .b) i Internal Distr
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It e L L L t u I' f ' ki Federal Ag
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u 1' 1" Outside Organizations (cont
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