On the benefit of fast-neutron reactor fuel depletion for transportation
Résumé
In recent years, some efforts have been devoted in France to research projects for handling Phenix Fast-neutron Reactor (FR): wet storage, reprocessing process and transportation. This paper assesses the benefit of taking account of the depletion of FR fuel elements for transportation. After a brief presentation of the calculation tools and models for depletion and criticality calculations, the depletion and criticality options are discussed. Then, interesting results show that the use of a low burnup level may allow an optimised loading of FR fissile fuel assemblies in the TN ® 17/2 transport cask. Furthermore, the results for FR fissile assemblies also encompass criticality calculations for FR fertile assemblies. Indeed, due to TN ® 17/2 transport cask design, substantial margins are available for FR fertile assemblies, even for strongly conservative hypotheses on fuel inventory. Consequently, considering their irradiation is not of interest for this case, but could be for other transportation configurations. Finally, the paper focuses on depletion codes validation, a key element for a straightforward and effective implementation of this approach.
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