Neutronic features of pebble-bed reactors for transmutation applications

Pebble-bed reactors offer very appealing characteristics for radioactivity confinement and for withstanding thermal transients. Besides that, pebble-bed reactors have a peculiar degree of freedom in the radius of the active core of the pebble (where the fuel is located) as compared to the outer radius of the pebble, which has a coating of pure graphite. By varying the aforementioned radius, very different types of neutron spectra can be formed, which in turn gives very different values of the average cross sections that govern the isotopic composition evolution, and particularly the elimination of the most relevant transuranics. Preliminary conclusions of this work show that there is a very broad design window for exploiting the transmutation capabilities of pebble-bed reactors in a scenario of inherent safety features. A 99,9% elimination of Pu-239 associated to a 99% elimination of Pu-240 and Pu-241 can be reached, with some increment of the Pu-242 contents (which is extremely long-lived, less radio-toxic and decays into the natural nuclide U-238). Am and Cm are also transmuted to a significant level, although some residual higher A actinides will remain. (authors)