Physics of Plutonium Recycling. Volume VII: Bwr Mox Benchmark Specifications and Results

OECD Publications, Paris, France, 2003. — 126 p. — ISBN: 9264199055The OECD/NEA Working Party on the Physics of Plutonium Fuels and Innovative Fuel Cycles (WPPR, formerly the Working Party on Physics of Plutonium Recycling) was established in
1993 and reports to the OECD/NEA Nuclear Science Committee. Its main activity has been to analyse physics code benchmarks for problems related to the physics of plutonium fuels. Past volumes of published work have examined the physics of plutonium-fuelled pressurised water reactors (PWRs), the physics of metal- and oxide-fuelled fast reactors and multiple recycling in conventional and high-moderation PWRs. Altogether, six volumes of work have been published comprising:
Volume I: Issues and Perspectives (OECD/NEA, 1995);
Volume II: Plutonium Recycling in Pressurised Water Reactors (OECD/NEA, 1995);
Volume III: Void Reactivity Effect in Pressurised Water Reactors (OECD/NEA, 1995);
Volume IV: Fast Plutonium Burner Reactors: Beginning of Life (OECD/NEA, 1995);
Volume V: Plutonium Recycling in Fast Reactors (OECD/NEA, 1996);
Volume VI: Multiple Plutonium Recycling in Advanced PWRs (OECD/NEA, 2002).
The present Volume VII describes the results of a theoretical benchmark of a boiling water
reactor (BWR) assembly containing MOX fuel rods. Addressing this issue was timely as there are now advanced plans for commercial-scale deployment of MOX in BWRs. Volume VIII of this series will be devoted to plutonium fuel in high-temperature reactors (HTRs).
The commercial recycling of plutonium as PuO2/UO2 mixed oxide (MOX) fuel is established in pressurised water reactors (PWR) in several countries, the main motivation being the consumption of plutonium arising from reprocessing.
Although the same motivating factors apply to boiling water reactors (BWRs), they have lagged behind PWRs for various reasons, and MOX utilisation in BWRs is implemented only in a few reactors at present. One reason for this is that the nuclear design of BWR MOX assemblies (or bundles) is more complex than that of PWR assemblies, due the presence of the water gaps between BWR assemblies, the presence of U/Gd rods for reactivity control, water channels inside assemblies and the complex spatial distribution of steam void. Accordingly, in 1998 the OECD/NEA Working Party on the Physics of Plutonium Fuels and Innovative Systems (WPPR) conducted a physics code benchmark test for a BWR assembly. This volume reports on the benchmark results and conclusions that can be drawn from it.Summary of the Benchmark
Solutions and Analysis
Discussion and Interpretation of Results
Appendices
Material density and Pu composition
Details to be provided about the calculational scheme used
Definition of a simplified cruciform control rod model for the MOX BWR Benchmark