A Design study of high breeding ratio sodium cooled metal fuel core without blanket fuels

Kobayashi, Noboru; Ogawa, Takashi; Oki, Shigeo ; Mizuno, Tomoyasu; Ogata, Takanari*

Utilizing advantages of the metal fuel core to the mixed oxide fuel one, such as its higher breeding ratio and compact core size, a conceptual design for a high breeding ratio was performed without blanket fuels. The design conditions were set so a sodium void worth of less than 8, a core height of less than 150 cm, a maximum cladding temperature of 650C, and a fuel pin bundle pressure drop of 0.4 MPa. The breeding ratio of the resultant core was 1.34 with 6wt% zirconium content fuel. Applying 3wt% zirconium content fuel enhanced the breeding ratio up to 1.40.