Transuranium Elements Transmutation in VVER and PWR Type of Reactors

Abstract

The expected renaissance of nuclear energy production puts the now postponed decision on long-term spent nuclear fuel handling on focus. In case of tripling the currently existing nuclear power generation of the countries that signed the relevant declaration on COP-28, Bulgaria among them, the high level radioactive elements of the spent nuclear fuel should be treated in such a way, that their quantity should be reduced dramatically before their final disposal. Chemical approaches to remove the long-lived radioactive isotopes from the spent fuel exist for years. The question for their further utilization yet remains. Furthermore, the nuclear reactions in reactors' cores lead to build-up of certain amounts of ²³⁹Pu. With increasing the number of the spent fuel production this quantity cannot be neglected anymore. The possibility of returning these transuranium elements in the core of power reactors for further transmutation is investigated in this paper by means of numerical experiment. Contemporary codes and cross-sections are used. The results show that balance may be reached for most of the highly active transuranium elements. The investigated approach gives promising results for spent fuel handling perspectives.