IAEA-TECDOC-840 Unconventional options for plutonium disposition Proceedings of a Technical Committee meeting held Obninsk,in Russian Federation, 7-11 November 1994 m INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENC\ /A Y The IAEA does not normally maintain stocks of reports in this series. However, microfiche copie f thesso e reportobtainee b n sca d from INIS Clearinghouse International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramerstrasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria Orders should be accompanied by prepayment of Austrian Schillings 100, in the form of a cheque or in the form of IAEA microfiche service coupons which may be ordered separately from the INIS Clearinghouse. The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Nuclear Materials and Fuel Cycle Technology Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramerstrasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria UNCONVENTIONAL OPTIONS FOR PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION IAEA, VIENNA, 1995 IAEA-TECDOC-840 ISSN 1011-4289 IAEA© , 1995 Printed by the IAEA in Austria November 1995 FOREWORD This publication summarizes discussions and presents selected papers from a Technical Committee meeting tha IAEe tth A convene Obninskn di , near Moscow, Russia, 7-11 November 1994 invitatioe ath t Ministre th Russia e f no th f yo n Federatio Atomin no c Energy whicd hostes an , hwa d by the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering. The meeting focused on the disposition of plutonium produced from the operation of nuclear power plants in areas related to the nuclear fuel cycle. Plutoniu mformes i l existin al n di g nuclear powe runconsumee plantth d san d part remaining in spent fuel is a generic by-product of nuclear power generation. Over the next 15 to 20 years, a significant amoun f plutoniuo t m wil producee b l nuclean di r power stations worldwide, addino gt amounts already in storage. Additionally, the world's plutonium stocks are being affected by decisions concerning the management and utilization of plutonium recovered from nuclear weapons which are being dismantled. In this context, national strategies are directed at reducing the stockpiles of separated plutonium worldwide furthen i d an ,r developing technologies capabl safelf e o secureld yan y using and handling plutonium. The purpose of the IAEA's Technical Committee meeting was to consider unconventional approache plutoniur sfo m disposition, both fro pointe mth e vief sth o f wo fuel e specificycl whola th s d ea ecan type f nucleao s r fuel being used aime Th .s wer obtaio et n technical description thesf so e approaches, engineering judgement thein so r technological statud san development, and reports on national experience in this field. The meeting's results and conclusions are providing valuable guidance for future activities in this subject area. EDITORIAL NOTE In preparing this publication for press, staff of the IAEA have made up the pages from the original manuscripts as submitted by the authors. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those governmentsofthe nominating ofthe Member nominating the States of or organizations. Throughout textthe names Memberof States retainedare theyas were when textthe was compiled. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by publisher,the legalthe IAEA, to statusthe as of such countries territories,or of their authoritiesand institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement recommendationor partthe IAEA. ofon the The authors responsibleare havingfor obtained necessarythe permission IAEAthe to for reproduce, translate materialuse or from sources already protected copyrights.by CONTENTS Summary of the Technical Committee Meeting .............................. 7 GENERAL OVERVIEW (Session 1) Management of plutonium in Russia ..................................... 17 N.N. Egorov, V.M. Murogov, V.S. Kagramanian, M.F. Troyanov, V.M. Poplavski, V.I. Matveev An overvie activitiee th OECe f wth o f Dso nuclear energy agenc plutoniumn yo ........9 2 . ZaribasN. Waste managements aspect 2 fuel f O (Ths o ) s ,Pu ...........................5 3 . W.H. Hocking, ToyP. lor, L.H. Johnson, R.J. McEachem, SunderS. Rational Pu-transmutatio U .....................................^ r nfo 9 4 . A. Lecocq, K. Furukawa GAS COOLED REACTORS AND THORIUM ASPECTS (Session 2) Plutonium destruction with pebbl typd ebe e HTGRs usin burneu gP r balld san breeder balls .................................................... 63 K. Yamashita, K. Tokuhara, R. Shindo The plutonium consumption modular helium reactor (PC-MHR) .................... 69 Alberstein,D. Baxter,AM. W.A. Simon Advantages and limitations of thorium fuelled energy amplifiers .................... 81 Magill,J. C.O. Carrol, Gerontopoulos,P. Richter, GeelK. van J. Mixed plutonium-thoriu fasmn i tfuee breedinus l g reactor sEcologica- y wa l of accumulated plutonium burning. ...................................... 97 E.Ya. Smetanin, V.B. Pavlovien, G.N. Kazantsev, I.Ya. Ovchinnikov, B.Ya. Zilberman, L.V. Sytnik CANDU AND LWR (Session 3) Annihilatio plutoniuf no CANDmn i U reactors ............................3 10 . D.A. Menelay, A.R. Dastur, R.A. Verroll Plutonium burnin thermaa gvi l fissio unconventian ni l matrices. ..................5 11 . C. Lombardi, MazzolaA. Reactor physics characteristics of possible fuel materials for plutonium-incinerating LWRs . 135 R. Chawla, U. Kasemeyer, J.M. Paratte Physical and technological aspects of cermet fuel. Application of Pu burning in WWER reactors ................................................. 149 V.M. Dekusar, A.G. Kalashnikov, E.N. Kapranova, A.D. Karpin, I.S. Kurina, V.V. Popov Fuel with carbon matri burninr xfo g plutoniu thermamn i l reactors ................5 15 . E.A. Ivanov, G.N. Kazantsev, I.Ya. Ovchinnikov, P.P. Raskach MOLTEN SALT (Session 4) Some ideas about hydrid system concepts ................................. 165 P.A. Landeyro, A. Buccafurni, A. Santilli Rational Pu-disposition for ^U production by THORIMS-NES (thorium molten-salt nuclear energy synergetics) .................................. 169 K. Furukawa, K. Mitachi, S.E. Chigrinov, Y. Koto, A. Lecocq, L. Berrin Erbay Neutronic examinatio plutonium-transmutation no smala y nb l molten-salt fission power station .............................................. 183 Mitachi,K. Furukawa,K. Yamana,Y. Suzuki,T. KatoY. possibilite Studth f yo f usinyo g molten salt r plutoniusfo m utilizatiod nan actiniae transmutation. ............................................. 197 V.S. Naymov, A.V. Bychkov, O.V. Skiba, P.T. Porodnov FAST REACTORS (Session 5) Studu burneP n yo r fast reactor cores without uranium. .......................7 20 . M. Ishikawa, A. Shono, T. Wakabayashi Pu burning in fast reactor cores using unconventional fuel without ^U .............. 219 I.Y. Krivitski, G.G. Byburin, A.P. Ivanov, V.I. Matveev, E.V. Matveeva Mononitride mixed fuel for fast reactors. ................................. 229 B.D. Ragozkin, N.M. Stepennova, Yu. E. Fedorov, M.G. Shishkov, O.N. Dubrovin, L.V. Arseenkov Plutonium disposal and burning in lead cooled fast reactor ...................... 237 y.V. Orlov Physic fasf so t reacto converter- U ..............................^ o t u rP 7 24 . D.N. Ziabletsev, V.G. Ilynin, M.S. Kolesnikova, A.V. Magaev WEAPONS GRADE PLUTONIUM (Session 6) Plutonium rock-like fuel integrate (PROFITD dR& ) ..........................3 25 . T. Muromura, N. Nitani, H. Aide, H. Takano Combinin acceleraton gturbina s ga a ed modulaan r r helium reacto near fo r r total destruction of weapon grade plutonium .......................................... 263 A.M. Baxter, AlbersteinD. Physical and technical-economic aspects of weapon grade Pu utilization in HTGRs ....... 275 Yu.P. Sukharev, A.I. Kiryushin, N.G. Zuzavkov, N.G. Kodochigov, A.S. Kudryashov, N.N. Ponomarev-Stepnoi, N.E. Kukharkin, E.S. Glushkov, V.N. Grebennik Lis Participantf o t s ..............................................5 28 . SUMMAR TECHNICAE TH F YO L COMMITTEE MEETING Introduction recenn I t years IAEe th ,bee s Aha n workin colleco gt analysd an t e informatio overale th n no l developments and trends in spent fuel processing and plutonium utilization. In its 1993-1994 programme Nucleae th , r Fuel Cycl Wastd ean e Management Division, followin currene gth t world situation, has been giving more attention to the collection, analysis and exchange of information on both plutonium accumulation and its utilization. Presentl limiteya d numbe countrief ro involvee sar plutoniun di m disposition issues, although subjece th gainins i t g greater attentio lighte th globaf o n i l development 1990se th n si . This meeting focused on unconventional concepts of plutonium disposition, both from the point of view of the fuel cycle and from the point of view of fuel type, since they have not been reviewed and discussed in depth elsewhere. These unconventional concepts include options whic evolutiobasen e a h ar n do f no technology (e.g. modified fuel designs, metallic fuel, advanced LWRs, reconsidered fast reactors, etc. requird )an e further developmen validatiod tan wels n a option s la concept w basee ne s ar n do s still to be further elaborated by appropriate R&D (e.g. PuO2 dispersion in non-fuel oxides, nitride fuels, combination cyclewith T ha , HTRs, etc.) maie Th .n emphasi colleco t s technicaswa a t l description of those concepts and to