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Abstract
J. Jonnet, J.L. Kloosterman, and B. Boer,
Performance of TRISO particles fuelled with Plutonium and Minor Actinides in a PBMR-400 core design,
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 240:1320-1331 (2010).
The TRISO particle design of high temperature reactors fuelled with Plutonium (Pu) and/or Minor Actinides (MAs)is
investigated by calculating the failure fraction of TRISO particles during irradiation. For this purpose, a fuel
depletion, neutronics and thermal-hydraulics code system, which delivers the fuel temperature, fast neutron flux
and power density profiles, is coupled to an analytical stress analysis code. The latter is being further developed
for the calculation of a reliable and realistic failure fraction. The code system has been applied to a PBMR-400 design
containing TRISO particles fuelled with first and second generation plutonium with a target burnup of 700 and 600 MWd/kgHM,
respectively. It is shown that the pebble-bed type high temperature reactor under consideration is a promising option for
burning Pu and MAs if very high burn-ups can be achieved. The TRISO particle failure fraction is also calculated for both
Pu and MA fuels, and compared to U-based fuel. It is shown by the present stress analysis code that the Pu-based fuel
particles need a better design and this has been achieved for the MA-based fuel, in which helium gas atoms have a
significant contribution to the buffer pressure.
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