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The Effect of Fuel Burnup and Dispersed Water Intrusion on the Criticality of Spent High-Level Nuclear Fuel in a Geologic Repository

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

William G. Culbreth  and
Paige R. Zielinski
William G. Culbreth
Affiliation:
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 89154-4015
Paige R. Zielinski
Affiliation:
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 89154-4015
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Abstract

Studies of the spent fuel waste package have been conducted through the use of a Monte-Carlo neutron simulation program to determine the ability of the fuel to sustain a chain reaction. These studies have included fuel burnup and the effect of water mists on criticality. Results were compared with previous studies.

In many criticality studies of spent fuel waste packages, fresh fuel with an enrichment as high as 4.5% is used as the conservative (worst) case. The actual spent fuel has a certain amount of “burnup” that decreases the concentration of fissile uranium and increases the amount of radionuclides present. The LWR Radiological Data Base from OCRWM has been used to determine the relative radionuclide ratios and KENO 5.a was used to calculate values of the effective multiplication factor, keff.1

Spent fuel is not capable of sustaining a chain reaction unless a suitable moderator, such as water, is present. A completely flooded container has been treated as the worst case for criticality. Results of a previous report that demonstrated that keff actually peaked at a water-to-mixture ratio of 13% were analyzed for validity. In the present study, these results did not occur in the SCP waste package container.

Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 333: Symposium V – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVII , 1993 , 445
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

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References

REFERENCES

1 U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, “LWR Radiological Data Base,” Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1987).Google Scholar
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