Management Feature of Transuranic for HTGR and LWR

Long-lived actinides from spent fuels can cause potential long-term environmental hazards. The generation and incineration of transuranic in different closed fuel cycles were studied. U and Pu were recycled from spent fuel in the 250 MW high temperature gas-cooled reactor-pebble-bed-module (HTR-PM) U-Pu fuelled core, and then PuO₂ and MOX fuel elements were designed based on this recycled U and Pu. These fuel elements were used to build up a new PuO₂ or MOX fuelled core with the same geometry of the original reactor. Characteristics of transuranic incineration with HTGR open and closed fuel cycles were studied with VSOP code, and the corresponding results from the light water reactor were compared and analyzed. The transuranic generation with HTGR open fuel cycle is almost half of the corresponding result of the light water reactor. Thus, HTGR closed fuel cycles can effectively burn transuranic.