A Comparison of Long-Lived, Proliferation Resistant Fast Reactors

Various methods have been proposed to transmute and thus consume the current inventory of trans-uranic waste that exists in spent light-water-reactor fuel. These methods include both critical and sub-critical systems. The neutronics of metallic and nitride fuels loaded with 20-30wt% light-water-reactor plutonium plus minor actinides for use in a lead-bismuth and sodium cooled fast reactor are discussed, with an emphasis on the fuel cycle life and isotopic content. Calculations show that core life can extend beyond 20 years, and the average actinide burn rate is similar for both the sodium and lead-bismuth cooled cases ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 g/MWd