Studies on the properties of hard-spectrum, actinide fissioning reactors. Final report

It is technically feasible to construct an operable (e.g., safe and stable) reactor to burn waste actinides rapidly. The heart of the concept is a driver core of EBR-II type, with a central radial target zone in which fuel elements, made entirely of waste actinides are exposed. This target fuel undergoes fission, as a result of which actinides are rapidly destroyed. Although the same result could be achieved in more conventionally designed LWR or LMFBR systems, the fast spectrum reactor does a much more efficient job, by virtue of the fact that in both LWR and LMFBR reactors, actinide fission is preceded by several captures before a fissile nuclide is formed. In the fast spectrum reactor that is called ABR (actinide burning reactor), these neutron captures are short-circuited