At the brink of nuclear waste repository crises, viable alternatives for the long
term radiotoxic wastes are seriously being considered worldwide. Minor actinides serve
as one of these targeted wastes. Partitioning and transmutation in fission reactors is one
possible incineration option and could potentially serve as a source of nuclear fuel
required for sustainability of energy resources.
The objective of this research was to evaluate the neutronic performance of the
pebble-bed Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) configurations with various fuel
loadings. The configuration adjustments and design sensitivity studies specifically
targeted the achievability of spectral variations. The development of several realistic
full-core 3D models and validation of all modeling techniques used was a major part of
this research effort. In addition, investigating design sensitivities helped identify the
parameters of primary interest.
The full-core 3D models representing the prototype and large scale cores were
created for use with SCALE 5.0 and SCALE 5.1 code systems. Initially the models
required the external calculation of a Dancoff correction factor; however, the recent release of SCALE 5.1 encompassed inherent double heterogeneity modeling capabilities.
The full core 3D models with multi-heterogeneity treatments are in agreement with
available pebble-bed High Temperature Test Reactor data and were validated through
benchmark studies. Analyses of configurations with various fuel loadings have
indicated promising performance and safety characteristics. It was found that through
small configuration adjustments, the pebble-bed design can be tweaked to produce
desirable spectral shifts. The future operation of Generation IV nuclear energy systems
would be greatly facilitated by the utilization of minor actinides as a fuel component.
This would offer development of new fuel cycles, and support sustainability of a fuel
source.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2559 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Pritchard, Megan Leigh |
| Contributors | Tsvetkov, Pavel V. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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