Plutonium recycle in heavy water-power reactors

The performance of a heavy-water reactor using U²³⁸ with an equilibrium concentration of U²³⁹ Pu²⁴⁰ Pu²⁴¹ nuclei and small additions of U²³⁵ and with natural and depleted uranium make-up is discussed. A portion of the spent fuel discharged from the reactor is cleaned up of fission fragments and recycled to the reactor. Another (smaller) portion is withdrawn from the cycle after plutonium has been extracted and is replaced in the core by natural uranium.Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 26–29, January, 1966