Transmutation Properties of Minor Actinides Nuclide in the Lead-cooled Fast Reactor

The half-life of most of minor actinides in spent fuel is longer and has long-term radioactive hazards to the environment. Partitioning-transmutation technology can eliminate radioactive hazard by separating minor actinides from the high level waste and transmuting into short-life or stable nuclide in the reactor. MCNP and SCALE are used to simulate transmutation characteristics of minor actinides in lead-cooled fast reactor. The three loading methods are as follows, the homogeneous mixing of minor actinides with fuel, forming transmutation rods and fuel pellets coating. The results show that ²³⁷Np, ²⁴¹Am, ²⁴³Am and mixed minor actinides make the k_eff decrease, simultaneous loading of ²⁴⁴Cm and ²⁴⁵Cm make k_eff increase, and ²⁴⁵Cm significantly increase k_eff. After loading mixed minor actinides with different mass, the core k_eff decrease with the increase of loading, and the decreasing range from small to large are transmutation rod, uniform mixing and coating, respectively. The loading of different minor actinides is irradiated by uniform mixing in the core after 550 days, ²³⁷Np, ²⁴¹Am and ²⁴³Am transmutation rate are always positive, the ²⁴¹Am transmutation rate is the largest, while ²⁴⁴Cm and ²⁴⁵Cm transmutation rate are negative, ²⁴⁵Cm increases significantly, the total transmutation rate of minor actinides is about 14%. It can provide reference for minor actinides transmuted in the lead cooled fast reactor.