Study on thermal influence of MA-containing MOX fuel characteristics on fuel performance

Kamei, Miho; Ozawa, Takayuki   

The future fast reactor (FR) cycle system to reduce radioactive waste volume by recycling Pu and minor actinides (MA), and it is important to evaluate the influence of high Pu content and MA content on oxide fuel performance. In this study, we investigated the influence of fuel characteristics on power-to-melt (PTM) from a viewpoint to prevent fuel melting. As a result, PTM of FR oxide fuel with high Pu content and MA content would be affected by fuel properties due to fuel composition, but it revealed that a correlation between fuel specifications and PTM in MA-containing MOX fuel would be similar to that in MOX fuel, and it can be mentioned that thermal performance of MA-containing MOX fuel would be secured to be equal to that of conventional MOX fuels by providing suitable fuel specifications up to MA content of 5 wt.%.