| ID | 149950 |
| Title Proper | Middle-term thorium strategy for PWR fleets |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Martin, G ; Girieud, R |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Thorium constitutes a natural resource alternative to uranium to fuel nuclear fission power plants. This study explores an original way to benefit from thorium with pressurized water reactors (PWR). It relies on a versatile reactor EPR™ core concept which well circumscribes thorium fuel reprocessing and re-fabrication
Fleets representative of what can be deployed at the scale of a small country were simulated using the scenario software COSI6. The cornerstone of this study is here the possibility to multi-recycle plutonium into Pu/Th fuel as plutonium degradation is softened by mixing it with high-grade fissile matters. Plutonium content inside Pu/Th fuel remains then far below the limit existing in PWR for safety reasons. This synergistic effect between U/Pu and U/Th cycles enables a better valorization of fissile elements present in spent fuels. |
| `In' analytical Note | Energy Policy Vol. 99, No.99; Dec 2016: p.147–153 |
| Journal Source | Energy Policy 2016-12 99, 99 |
| Key Words | Nuclear Energy ; Thorium ; LWR |