Improved BR2 fuel cycle with optimized burnable absorber

Benoit Guiot, Hamid Aït Abderrahim

    Research output

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    Abstract

    When the BR2 was designed, the fuel was foreseen to be Highly Enriched Uranium (93 to 72% enrichment; HEU in the rest of the text) in aluminum matrix with burnable absorber, B4C and Sm2O3, mixed in the fuel meat. In the master thesis, this design option is reconsidered. Indeed, mixing burnable absorber in the fuel meat causes some concern for the fabrication of such fuel. HEU is also a concern in the proliferation of nuclear weapon framework. The master thesis will consider insertion of burnable absorber’s wires inside the aluminum fuel cladding and will then study different fuel and burnable absorber types in that design. The objective is to optimize the burnable absorber nature, density and localization for various fuel types, including HEU (93% 235U, UAlx, 1.30 gUtot.cm-3), LEU (20% 235U, U3Si2, 4.8 gUtot.cm-3) and LEU (20% 235U, UMo, 8.0 gUtot.cm-3). The final goal of the study is to choose an optimal material, geometry and localization of the burnable absorber in the fuel assembly, which provide at least the same (as for the presently used fuel) or enhanced fuel utilization, extended core lifetime, flattened reactivity evolution and reduced control rod motion.
    Original languageEnglish
    Awarding Institution
    • ULG - Université de Liège
    Supervisors/Advisors
    • Noterdaeme, J.M., Supervisor, External person
    • Kalcheva, Silva, Supervisor
    • Koonen, Edgar, Supervisor
    Place of PublicationLiége, Belgium
    Publisher
    StatePublished - 25 Aug 2008

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