Conceptual study of a plutonium burner high temperature gas-cooled reactor with high nuclear proliferation resistance

Goto, Minoru  ; Demachi, Kazuyuki*; Ueta, Shohei   ; Nakano, Masaaki*; Honda, Masaki*; Tachibana, Yukio ; Inaba, Yoshitomo  ; Aihara, Jun ; Fukaya, Yuji   ; Tsuji, Nobumasa*; Takahashi, Masashi*; Saiki, Yohei*; Hayato, Katsumi*; Kunitomi, Kazuhiko ; Ohashi, Kazutaka*; Kitagawa, Kenichi*; Okamoto, Koji*

A concept of a plutonium burner HTGR named as Clean Burn, which has a high nuclear proliferation resistance, had been proposed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. In addition to the high nuclear proliferation resistance, in order to enhance the safety, we propose to introduce PuO-YSZ TRISO fuel with ZrC coating to the Clean Burn. In this study, we conduct fabrication tests aiming to establish the basic technologies for fabrication of PuO-YSZ TRISO fuel with ZrC coating. Additionally, we conduct a quantitative evaluation of the security for the safety, a design of the fuel and the reactor core, and a safety evaluation for the Clean Burn to confirm the feasibility. This study is conducted by The University of Tokyo, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., and Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd. It was started in FY2014 and will be completed in FY2017, and the first year of the implementation was on schedule.