Plutonium isotopic composition of high burnup spent fuel discharged from light water reactors

Nakano, Yoshihiro ; Okubo, Tsutomu

The isotopic composition and amount of Pu in spent fuel from high burnup BWR and PWR (HB-BWR, HB-PWR), each with 70 GWd/t discharge burnup and 6% U enrichment were estimated to evaluate FBR fuel composition in the transition period from LWRs to FBRs. The HB-BWR employs spectral shift rods. The fraction of fissile Pu (Puf) in HB-BWR spent fuel after 5 years cooling is 62%, which is larger than that of conventional BWRs with burnup of 45 GWd/t, because of the spectral shift operation. The amount of Pu produced in the HB-BWR is also larger than that produced in a conventional BWR. The HB-PWR uses a wider pitch 1717 assembly to optimize neutron slowing down. The Puf fraction of HB-PWR spent fuel after 5 years cooling is 56%, which is smaller than that of conventional PWRs with burnup of 49 GWd/t, mainly because of the wider pitch. The amount of Pu produced in the HB-PWR is also smaller than that in conventional PWRs.