V. I. Gulik1, V. M. Pavlovych2
1Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, NAS of Ukraine, 12, Lysogirska st., Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine
2Institute for Nuclear Research of NAS, 47, Nauky av., Kyiv, 03680, Ukraine
DOI: doi.org/10.31717/2311-8253.19.1.1
Abstract
The creation of small-scale research subcritical reactors is necessary, in particular, for the development of the technology for nuclear waste transmutation in Accelerator Driven Systems. The construction of such facilities will allow the development of the technology of nuclear waste transmutation without constructing an expensive industrial scale subcritical reactor. The low-cost neutron generator can serve as a driver for such research subcritical reactors. A two-zone model of subcritical system driven by high-intensity neutron generator is proposed in this work. The proposed system can use two separated cores with different neutron spectra: fast and thermal. This paper also represents the main stages of the proposed model of two-zone subcritical reactor development. The results of simulations, aimed at optimizing of the geometry and fuel composition of the two-zone subcritical system, performed in Serpent and MCNP codes are presented. An overview of the analysis of different facilities that can be used as an external neutron source for subcritical reactor is shown, however a high-intensity neutron generator based on D-T reaction was chosen as the optimal neutron source for low-cost research subcritical reactor for investigation of nuclear waste transmutation. Generally, it is observed that the two-zone subcritical system can effectively amplify neutron flux from external neutron sources.
Keywords: Accelerator Driven Systems, subcritical system, transmutation of nuclear waste, optimization of subcritical core.
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