| Summary/Abstract |
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.
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