Analysis of a pressurized power reactor using thorium mixed fuel under regular operation

• Autor(a) principal: GOMES, DANIEL de S.
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: STEFANI, GIOVANNI L. de, OLIVEIRA, FABIO B.V. de, INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
• Tipo de documento: Artigo de conferência
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do IPEN
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/30708
• topic: comparative evaluations; enthalpy; f codes; mixed oxide fuels; performance; pwr type reactors; s codes; thermal conductivity; thorium; uranium oxides

This work discusses a parametric study applied to nuclear power generation based on a mixed fuel formed by the composition of thorium-uranium oxide (Th-U)O2. Also, approached in this study the physical neutrons models of a fuel system composed of ThO2 75 wt% and UO2 25 wt%, with 19.5% enrichment of U-235. The thermodynamic features of the thorium-uranium fuel system compared with the properties of uranium dioxide. Thorium-based fuel operating extended fuel cycles reach of over 80 GWd/MTU in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). Homogenous distribution of thorium-based fuel, used on the reactor core, could reduce Pu-239, once U-233 production capacity dependent on Th-232 replacing U-238 in the fuel matrix. The mixed oxide fuel has a lower buildup of Pu-239, causing the linear heat rate distribution slope to flatten and lowering fuel porosity. The release of gaseous fission products models for (Th-U)O2 could have different diffusion coefficients when compared to uranium oxide models. Besides, resulting in lower thermal gradients than UO2 and a reduction in fuel swelling. This parametric study reviews the aspects of radioactive decay chains of uranium and thorium. It founded the simulation using approved nuclear codes, such as SERPENT for neutron physics calculations and the FRAPCON code, which defines the licensing process. The results show that thoria based fuel has a higher performance than UO2 fuel in regular operation and can improve safety margins.