An analytical approach to fast reactor fuel cycle analysis

Authors
Alvarez, Jose Maria Sierra
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Other Contributors
Becker, Martin, 1940-
Block, Robert C., 1929-
Lahey, Richard T.
Rogers, Edwin H.
Issue Date
1976-05
Keywords
Nuclear engineering
Degree
PhD
Terms of Use
This electronic version is a licensed copy owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Copyright of original work retained by author.
Full Citation
Abstract
The representation of the depletion process in a (U,Pu) fueled Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor can be greatly simplified, without appreciable loss in accuracy, when assuming that the fissionable isotopes are restricted to those of U-235, U-236, U-238, Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-24l and Pu-242, and the fission products are lumped into a pseudo-fission product. In the center- core region, where there are no significant spatial effects, space-independent continuous slowing down theory has been used for spectrum calculations whose most significant result is that spectrum-averaged cross sections vary very slightly and in a quasi-linear manner over the exposure ranges considered nowdays. It is also shown that the simplified depletion equations have an analytical solution for all fuel isotopes for the constant spectrum-averaged cross section case, while for the case in which they vary linearly, the analytical solution exists for only some of them. A quadratic correlation with composition, the correlation quantities being the fissile, fertile, pseudo-fission product, control, coolant and structure compositions, which also includes a fuel temperature correction factor, has been introduced and the errors in the spectrum-averaged cross sections are smaller than 3% against the numerical values, for all fuel elements and all cases considered.
Description
May 1976
School of Engineering
Department
Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
Publisher
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Relationships
Rensselaer Theses and Dissertations Online Collection
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