Burnup assessment of DUPIC cycle in CANDU 6 using scale 6.0

The Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor employs natural uranium. Important studies has been carried out to show the benefits in use reprocessed Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) in CANDU. The most expressive is the Oxidation Reduction of Oxide (OREOX) method as one of the options available in the Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In CANDU (DUPIC). The fissile contents of DUPIC cycle, is about 1.5 wt% and depends of the burnup features. The fresh CANDU natural uranium fuel is 0,71%. As shown in previous works the use of DUPIC fuel causes an increase in reactivity of the system that can potentially jeopardize the safety parameter of the reactor and increase the amount of fissile contents like ²³⁹Pu that in high levels states as an issue for nuclear weapons proliferation resistance. The present paper is an assessment of the system criticality during the burnup and an evaluation of the DUPIC fuel composition at the end of the cycle. Was observed that the systems maintain a coolant void coefficient of reactivity (CVR) similar to standard CANDU 6 core and non positive fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity (TCR), safety-relate reactor parameters. Although fissile material amount is increased there is a relative decrease in production in comparison with the standard natural uranium fueled CANDU reactor. The SCALE 6.0 (Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation modular code) have been used to model a simplified standard CANDU 6 reactor as its main constituents. (author)