Browsing Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technology and Policy Program (NFC) - Technical Reports by Title
Now showing items 4-23 of 45
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A Benchmark Study of Computer Codes for System Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2009-04)As use of nuclear energy is expected to expand in different parts of the world, several codes that describe the nuclear fuel cycle system are currently under development, featuring a range of capabilities and different ... -
Combining Thorium with Burnable Poison for Reactivity Control of a Very Long Cycle BWR
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2004-06)The effect of utilizing thorium together with gadolinium, erbium, or boron burnable absorber in BWR fuel assemblies for very long cycle is investigated. Nuclear characteristics such as reactivity and power distributions ... -
Cross Section Generation Strategy for High Conversion Light Water Reactors
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2011-06)High conversion water reactors (HCWR), such as the Resource-renewable Boiling Water Reactor (RBWR), are being designed with axial heterogeneity of alternating fissile and blanket zones to achieve a conversion ratio of ... -
Deep Boreholes Attributes and Performance Requirements
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2010-05-01)This is a progress report covering work through mid-May 2010 under a Sandia-MIT contract dealing with design and siting/licensing criteria for deep borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel or its separated constituents. It ... -
Development of a Bayesian Network to Monitor the Probability of Nuclear Proliferation
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2010-04)Nuclear Proliferation is a complex problem that has plagued national security strategists since the advent of the first nuclear weapons. As the cost to produce nuclear weapons has continued to decline and the availability ... -
A Drop-In Concept for Deep Borehole Canister Emplacement
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2011-06)Disposal of high-level nuclear waste in deep boreholes drilled into crystalline bedrock (i.e., “granite”) is an interesting repository alternative of long standing. Work at MIT over the past two decades, and more recently ... -
AN EVOLUTIONARY FUEL ASSEMBLY DESIGN FOR HIGH POWER DENSITY BWRs
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2007-07)An evolutionary BWR fuel assembly design was studied as a means to increase the power density of current and future BWR cores. The new assembly concept is based on replacing four traditional assemblies and large water ... -
Experimental Determination of Thermal Conductivity of a Lead- Bismuth, Eutectic-Filled Annulus
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2005-06)In order to obtain an accurate prediction of the thermal behavior of an annular fuel assembly (see MIT-NFC-PR-048 for a description of the rods), the thermal conduction of the region from the outside of the fuel capsule ... -
Feasibility of Breeding in Hard Spectrum Boiling Water Reactors with Oxide and Nitride Fuels
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2011-06-01)This study assesses the neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and fuel performance aspects of using nitride fuel in place of oxides in Pu-based high conversion light water reactor designs. Using the higher density nitride fuel ... -
Feasibility of Partial ZrO[subscript 2] Coatings on Outer Surface of Annular UO[subscript 2] Pellets to Control Gap Conductance
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2005-06)The viability of depositing a thin porous coating of zirconia on the outer surface of an annular UO[subscript 2] pellet is investigated experimentally. Such a layer has been proposed to buffer the contact between the fuel ... -
Feasibility of Very Deep Borehole Disposal of US Nuclear Defense Wastes
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2011-06)This report analyzes the feasibility of emplacing DOE-owned defense nuclear waste from weapons production into a permanent borehole repository drilled ~4 km into granite basement rock. Two canister options were analyzed ... -
Flexible Conversion Ratio Fast Reactor Systems Evaluation Final Report
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2008-06)Executive Summary: The goal of this project is to develop the conceptual designs of fast flexible conversion ratio reactors using lead and liquid salt coolants and to compare the results with a gascooled fast reactor ... -
A Framework for Performance Assessment and Licensing of Deep Borehole Repositories
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2010-03)This is the initial progress report under a Sandia-MIT contract dealing with development of engineering and geological siting criteria for deep borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel or its separated constituents. ... -
Fuel Cycle Options for Optimized Recycling of Nuclear Fuel
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2006-06)The reduction of transuranic inventories of spent nuclear fuel depends upon the deployment of advanced fuels that can be loaded with recycled transuranics (TRU), and the availability of facilities to separate and reprocess ... -
FUEL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF EXTENDED OPERATING CYCLES IN EXISTING LWRs
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 1998-01)An integral part of a technical analysis of a core design, fuel performance is especially important for extended operating cycles since the consequences of failed fuel are greater for this operating strategy than for ... -
A Generalized Optimization Methodology for Isotope Management
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2010-09)This research focuses on developing a new approach to studying the nuclear fuel cycle: instead of employing the trial and error approach currently used in actinide management studies in which reactors are designed and ... -
High Burnup Fuels for Advanced Nuclear Reactors
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2001-05)The goal of this work is to select the best candidate fuel materials to deliver high burnup in advanced light water reactors. Uranium and thorium based fuels are considered. These fuel materials must be able to withstand ... -
High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs 2nd Annual Report
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2003-08)The overall objective of this NERI project is to examine the potential for a high performance advanced fuel design for Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), which would accommodate a substantial increase of core power density ... -
High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs Appendices B-I to FY-02 Annual Report
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2003-08)B.1.1 VIPRE modeling of PWR core with annular fuel: Optimization studies in the first year used an isolated channel and models for MDNBR analyses. These analyses provided sufficient knowledge of potential thermal hydraulic ... -
High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs: 11th Quarterly Report
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 2004-07)I. Technical Narrative: The overall objective of this NERI project is to examine the potential for a high performance advanced fuel for Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), which would accommodate a substantial increase of ...