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dc.contributor.authorPetroski, Robert Carroll
dc.contributor.authorForget, Benoit Robert Yves
dc.contributor.authorForsberg, Charles W
dc.date.accessioned2019-07-08T16:26:08Z
dc.date.available2019-07-08T16:26:08Z
dc.date.issued2011-04
dc.date.submitted2010-06
dc.identifier.issn0029-5450
dc.identifier.issn1943-7471
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121519
dc.description.abstractIn a breed-and-burn (B&B) reactor, the reactor is first started with enriched uranium or other fissile material but thereafter can be refueled with natural or depleted uranium. B&B reactors have the potential to achieve >10% uranium utilization in a once-through fuel cycle versus <1% for light water reactors. A newly developed method for analyzing B&B reactors—the “neutron excess” concept—is used to determine the minimum amount of startup fuel needed to establish a desired equilibrium cycle in a minimum burnup B&B reactor. Here, a minimum burnup B&B reactor is defined as one in which neutron leakage is minimized and feed fuel can be discharged at uniform burnup. The neutron excess concept reformulates the k-effective of a system in terms of material depletion quantities: the total number of neutrons absorbed and produced by a given volume of fuel, which are termed “neutron excess quantities.” This concept is useful because neutron excess quantities are straightforward to estimate using simple one-dimensional (1-D) and zero-dimensional (0-D) models. A set of equations is developed that allows the quantity of starter fuel needed to establish a given B&B equilibrium cycle to be expressed in terms of neutron excess quantities. A simple 1-D example of a sodium-cooled, metal fuel reactor with a startup enrichment of 15% is used to illustrate how the method is applied. An estimate for the required amount of starter fuel based on a 0-D depletion model is found to differ by only 3% from the actual amount computed using the 1-D example model.en_US
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInforma UK Limiteden_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13182/nt11-a12311en_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alikeen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/en_US
dc.sourceProf. Forget via Chris Sherratten_US
dc.titleUsing the Neutron Excess Concept to Determine Starting Fuel Requirements for Minimum Burnup Breed-and-Burn Reactorsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.citationPetroski, Robert et al. "Using the Neutron Excess Concept to Determine Starting Fuel Requirements for Minimum Burnup Breed-and-Burn Reactors." Nuclear Technology 175, 2 (August 2011): 388-400 © 2018 Informa UK Limiteden_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineeringen_US
dc.relation.journalNuclear Technologyen_US
dc.eprint.versionAuthor's final manuscripten_US
dc.type.urihttp://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticleen_US
eprint.statushttp://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerRevieweden_US
dc.date.updated2019-06-20T12:44:57Z
dspace.date.submission2019-06-20T12:44:58Z
mit.journal.volume175en_US
mit.journal.issue2en_US


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