Article: A preliminary comparative study between oxide and metallic fuelled ASTRID-like reactor under a B&B strategy Journal: International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology (IJNEST) 2019 Vol.13 No.1 pp.1 - 15 Abstract: The objective of this paper is to study the reactivity behaviour and the isotopic fuel performance of an ASTRID-like reactor under a breed and burn strategy for two core designs: with oxide and with metallic fuel. The proposed reshuffling scheme was simulated with MCNP6 and the JEFF-3.2 cross-sections library to extend the fuel life by two more cycles. Our findings showed that the implementation of the reshuffling scheme enhanced the fuel utilisation, obtaining cycle extensions of 805 days and 1305 days, over the first 365 days, for the oxide and metallic fuelled designs, respectively. For the metallic-fuelled design the breeding of Pu-239 achieved a production of 577.7 kg, which represents a production rate of 126.3 kg/EFPY. The conversion rate for the metallic-fuelled design was 1.06 and 0.96 for the oxide-fuelled design. Regarding the coolant void reactivity worth, for the oxide-fuelled design it becomes positive after the second fuel reshuffling. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: A preliminary comparative study between oxide and metallic fuelled ASTRID-like reactor under a B&B strategy

Authors: Juan-Luis François; Elías-Yammir García-Cervantes; Cecilia Martín-del-Campo

Addresses: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ingeniería, Departamento de Sistemas Energéticos, Paseo Cuauhnáhuac 8532, 62550 Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico ' Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ingeniería, Departamento de Sistemas Energéticos, Paseo Cuauhnáhuac 8532, 62550 Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico ' Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ingeniería, Departamento de Sistemas Energéticos, Paseo Cuauhnáhuac 8532, 62550 Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to study the reactivity behaviour and the isotopic fuel performance of an ASTRID-like reactor under a breed and burn strategy for two core designs: with oxide and with metallic fuel. The proposed reshuffling scheme was simulated with MCNP6 and the JEFF-3.2 cross-sections library to extend the fuel life by two more cycles. Our findings showed that the implementation of the reshuffling scheme enhanced the fuel utilisation, obtaining cycle extensions of 805 days and 1305 days, over the first 365 days, for the oxide and metallic fuelled designs, respectively. For the metallic-fuelled design the breeding of Pu-239 achieved a production of 577.7 kg, which represents a production rate of 126.3 kg/EFPY. The conversion rate for the metallic-fuelled design was 1.06 and 0.96 for the oxide-fuelled design. Regarding the coolant void reactivity worth, for the oxide-fuelled design it becomes positive after the second fuel reshuffling.

Keywords: fast reactors; sodium-cooled reactor; breed and burn; metallic fuel; ASTRID.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2019.099692

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2019 Vol.13 No.1, pp.1 - 15

Received: 16 Aug 2018
Accepted: 27 Nov 2018
Published online: 20 May 2019 *

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Title: A preliminary comparative study between oxide and metallic fuelled ASTRID-like reactor under a B&B strategy

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