Minor actinides transmutation on pressurized water reactor burnable poison rods

Abstract Minor actinides are the primary contributors to long term radiotoxicity in spent fuel. The majority of commercial reactors in operation in the world are PWRs, so to study the minor actinide transmutation characteristics in the PWRs and ultimately realize the successful minor actinide transmutation in PWRs are crucial problem in the area of the nuclear waste disposal. The key issues associated with the minor actinide transmutation are the appropriate loading patterns when introducing minor actinides to the PWR core. We study two different minor actinide transmutation materials loading patterns on the PWR burnable poison rods, one is coating a thin layer of minor actinide in the water gap between the zircaloy cladding and the stainless steel which is filled with water, another one is that minor actinides substitute for burnable poison directly within burnable poison rods. Through considering the loading patterns, loading amount and self-shielding effect and so on, when the outer diameter of MA is 0.520 cm, the transmutation rate of MA is 38.5%, it is the optimal configuration, firstly transmutation rate and loading amount of MA with the pattern of MA in the water gap of burnable poison rods are larger than ones with the pattern of MA substitute for part burnable poison. Secondly the highest transmutation rate means the least loading amount of MA and the lowest transmutation rate means the most loading amount of MA. In order to keep reasonable transmutation rate and loading amount, when the outer diameter of MA is 0.520 cm, it would not reduce dramatically the amount of MA and the MA loading of this loading pattern is equivalent to the discharge amount of five pressurized water reactor, at the same time, the transmutation rate can keep reasonable level.