Non-proliferation Aspects of Advanced Fuels under Light Water Reactor Conditions

In the paper, different nuclear fuel cycles of advanced fuel types and their non-proliferation aspects are examined and compared. The investigated fuels include mixed oxide fuel, thorium-based fuel and zirconium inert matrix fuel. All of them are used to carry and burn or transmute plutonium created in the classical UOX cycle. The computing cycles are based on reprocessing of spent UOX fuel, separation of plutonium, fabrication of an advanced fuel type and its reuse in a light water reactor. Minor actinides are separated along with plutonium only in the case of the inert matrix fuel. The calculated and compared values include plutonium and minor actinides transmutation rates, mass of reprocessed fuel and mass of fuel sent to the repository. All fuel cycles were calculated using the HELIOS 1.9 spectral code.