Neutronic and thermohydraulic characteristics of a new breeding thorium–uranium mixed SCWR fuel assembly
Abstract The exploitation of thorium fuel is a promising way to overcome the pressing problems of nuclear fuel supply, nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation. In this paper, a novel conceptual design of a breeding thorium–uranium (Th–U) mixed fuel assembly in SCWR is proposed, which is aimed to achieve the breeding ratio bigger than 1.0, so as to fulfill the sustainable breeding thorium–uranium cycle. Through the calculations of neutronics and neutronic/thermohydraulic (N–T) coupling, the results indicate that the introduced conceptual design of a breeding Th–U mixed fuel assembly in SCWR satisfies design rules of SCWR, with considerable advantages with respect to breeding performance, lower minor actinide generation and reactor safety.