Study of CANDU thorium-based fuel cycles by deterministic and Monte Carlo methods

In the framework of the Generation IV forum, there is a renewal of interest in self-sustainable thorium fuel cycles applied to various concepts such as Molten Salt Reactors [1, 2] or High Temperature Reactors [3, 4]. Precise evaluations of the U-233 production potential relying on existing reactors such as PWRs [5] or CANDUs [6] are hence necessary. As a consequence of its design (online refueling and D2O moderator in a thermal spectrum), the CANDU reactor has moreover an excellent neutron economy and consequently a high fissile conversion ratio [7]. For these reasons, we try here, with a shorter term view, to re-evaluate the economic competitiveness of once-through thorium-based fuel cycles in CANDU [8]. Two simulation tools are used: the deterministic Canadian cell code DRAGON [9] and MURE [10], a C++ tool for reactor evolution calculations based on the Monte Carlo code MCNP [11]. (authors)