Shippingport LWBR (Th/U Oxide) Fuel Characteristics for Disposal Criticality Analysis

Department of Energy (DOE)-owned spent nuclear fuels encompass many fuel types. In an effort to facilitate criticality analysis for these various fuel types, they were categorized into eight characteristic fuel groups with emphasis on fuel matrix composition. Out of each fuel group, a representative fuel type was chosen for analysis as a bounding case within that fuel group. Generally, burnup data, fissile enrichments, and total fuel and fissile mass govern the selection of the representative or candidate fuel within that group. The Shippingport Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR) fuels incorporate more of the conventional materials (zirconium cladding/heavy metal oxides) and fabrication details (rods and spacers) that make them comparable to a typical commercial fuel assembly. The LWBR seed/blanket configuration tested a light-water breeder concept with Th-232/U-233 binary fuel matrix. Reactor design used several assembly configurations at different locations within the same core . The seed assemblies contain the greatest fissile mass per (displaced) unit volume, but the blanket assemblies actually contain more fissile mass in a larger volume; the atom-densities are comparable