Use of weapons plutonium in VVÉR-1000 reactors |
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Authors: | N N Ponomarev-Stepnoi A M Pavlovichev Yu A Styrin |
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Affiliation: | (1) Russian Science Center Kurchatov Institute, Russia |
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Abstract: | One scenario for using excess Russian weapons plutonium is to load it into VVéR-1000 reactors. It is proposed that up to 40%
of the fuel assemblies with uranium fuel be replaced with structurally similar fuel assemblies with mixed uranium-plutonium
fuel. The stationary regime for burning fuel has the following characteristics: the run time is about 300 or 450 eff. days,
the yearly plutonium consumption reaches 450 kg, the neutron-physical characteristics are close to the corresponding regimes
with uranium fuel. The nuclear safety criteria and the irradiation dose for workers handling fresh and spent mixed fuel remain
within the limits of the normative values. The use of mixed fuel makes it necessary to upgrade certain systems at nuclear
power plants. A substantial quantity of weapons plutonium can be loaded every year into VVéR-1000 reactors, effectively using
the energy potential of this plutonium.
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Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 103, No. 4, pp. 215–222, October, 2007. |
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