The effect of reactor size on the breeding economics of LMFBR blankets
Name
857058519.pdf
Size
14.18 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
c054e5e742fdce7997dafcba499b8803
Author(s)
Tagishi, Akinori
Driscoll, Michael J.
Date Issued
1975
Publisher
Cambridge, Mass. : Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, [1975]
Series/Report no.
MITNE ; no. 168
ERDA research and development report
COO (Series) ; 2250-13
Abstract
The effect of reactor size on the neutronic and economic performance of LMFBR blankets driven by radially-power-flattened cores has been investigated using both simple models and state-of-the-art computer methods. Reactor power ratings in the range 250 to 3000 MWe were considered. Correlations for economic breakeven and optimum irradiation times and blanket thicknesses have been developed for batch-irradiated blankets. It is shown that at a given distance from the core-blanket interface the fissile buildup rate per unit volume remains very nearly constant in the radial blanket as (radially-power-flattened, constant-height) core size increases. As a consequence, annual revenue per blanket assembly, and breakeven and optimum irradiation times and optimum blanket dimensions, are the same for all reactor sizes. It is also shown that the peripheral core fissile enrichment, hence neutron leakage spectra, of the (radially-power-flattened, constant-height) cores remains essentially constant as core size increases. Coupled with the preceding observations, this insures that radial blanket breeding performance in demonstration-size LMFBR units will be a good measure of that in much larger commercial LMFBR's.
Description
"February, 1975."
Also issued as an Sc. D. thesis written by the first author and supervised by the second author, MIT Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, 1975
Includes bibliographical references (pages 344-346)
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