Options for a Sustainable MOX Fuel Cycle in PWRs for Rapid Utilization of Recycled Plutonium

摘要

This work demonstrates the possibility of a sustainable MOX fuel cycle for PWR reactors, which recycles plutonium ad infinitum. The concentrations of Pu-240 and Pu-242 do not grow over time up to maximum fuel burnups up to 50 MWD/kgHM and the properties of the fuel reach equilibrium values after about the 10th iteration of plutonium recycling. These balance achieved through the feed of the system with enriched uranium. This cycle can not, of course, be called a completely closed fuel cycle like that of fast breeder reactors, but it provides an opportunity to use MOX fuel in existing LWR reactors with minor modifications of the power plants and eliminates the accumulation of plutonium waste materials.