Utilization of Plutonium Oxide On Nuscale Small Modular Reactor (SMR) with Fuel Thorium Oxide
Sabiq Fatoni dan Prof. Abdul Waris
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Abstract
Nuclear energy is one of the alternative energy sources to resolve the increasing needs of energy sources. Small Modular reactor (SMR) is one type of small nuclear reactor that can be resolve energy needs for remote areas. In this study, variations of fuel were carried out on the NuScale SMR reactor were Thorium with Plutonium (reactor grade plutonium), Thorium with enrichment Uranium, and Thorium with U-233. This study aims to determine the composition of the fuel that makes the reactor capable in a critical state for 10 years with a power of 150MWth. Variations in the composition concentration of Plutonium, concentration and enrichment of natural uranium, and concentration U233 were carried out on the NuScale reactor core. Neutronic analysis was carried out using the SRAC2006 program with JENDL4.0 on the LINUX operating system, which resulted in the value of the multiplication factor, conversion ratio, and reactor reactivity values. Based on calculations and simulations critical reactor (Keff ≥ 1) was produced for 10 years with a composition of 4.47% Plutonium in Th-Pu, 14%, 13%, and 12% Uranium with 17%, 18%, and 19% enrichment in Th-U, and 1,8% Uranium-233 in Th-U233. The reactor reactivity shows that the value is always positive and tends to decrease every year so the reactor is safe. Value of conversion ratio (CR) < 1 so that it can be used to reduce plutonium waste from other reactors
Keywords: Conversion Ratio , Multiplication Factor, NuScale, SRAC2006, Thorium
Topic: Nuclear Science and Engineering