Applicability of dynamic programming to the accelerator-driven system (ADS) fuel cycle shuffling scheme for minor actinide (MA) transmutation

The accelerator-driven system (ADS) is under development in several countries to reduce the burden for conditioning and disposal of the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) by transmuting minor actinide (MA). It is expected that the fuel shuffling can make the power distribution flat and transmute MA effectively by using only one kind of fuel composition. But the total number of calculation cases becomes huge for finding the globally optimum case. In order to find the best shuffling scheme for MA transmutation by ADS, we attempt to develop a calculation code within an acceptable time by employing dynamic programming. It is used successfully for a cylindrical core with three fuel regions with 20 times of fuel shuffling.