PLUTON: Three-group neutronic code for burnup analysis of isotope generation and depletion in highly irradiated LWR fuel rods

Lemehov, S.; Suzuki, Motoe

PLUTON is a three-group neutronic code analyzing, as functions of time and burnup, the change of radial profiles, together with average values, of power density, burnup, concentration of trans-uranium elements, plutonium buildup, depletion of fissile elements, and fission product generation in water reactor fuel rod with standard UO2, UO2-Gd2O3, inhomogeneous MOX, and UO2-ThO2. The PLUTON code, which has been designed to be run on Windows PC, has adopted a theoretical shape function of neutron attenuation in pellet, which enables users to perform a very fast and accurate calculation easily. The present code includes the irradiation conditions of the Halden Reactor which gives verification data for the code. The total list of trans-uranium elements included in the calculations consists of 92U233-239, 93Np237-239, 94Pu238-243, 95Am241-244 (including isomers), and 96Cm242-245. Verification has been performed up to 83 GWd/tU, and a satisfactory agreement has been obtained.