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Editorial Preface To the Special Issue on "17th International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems (icenes'2015), 4-8 October 2015, Istanbul, Turkey"(Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2016) Sahin, Sumer; Sahin, Haci Mehmet; Martinez-Val, Jose; Wu, Yican[No Abstract Available]Article Citation - WoS: 26Citation - Scopus: 28Utilization of Triso Fuel With Reactor Grade Plutonium in Candu Reactors(Elsevier Science Sa, 2010) Sahin, Suemer; Sahin, Haci Mehmet; Acir, AdemLarge quantities of plutonium have been accumulated in the nuclear waste of civilian LWRs and CANDU reactors. Reactor grade plutonium and heavy water moderator can give a good combination with respect to neutron economy. On the other hand. TRISO type fuel can withstand very high fuel burn-up levels. The paper investigates the prospects of utilization of TRISO fuel made of reactor grade plutonium in CANDU reactors. TRISO fuels particles are imbedded body-centered cubic (BCC) in a graphite matrix with a volume fraction of 68%. The fuel compacts conform to the dimensions of CANDU fuel compacts are inserted in rods with zircolay cladding. In the first phase of investigations, five new mixed fuel have been selected for CANDU reactors composed of (1) 4% RG-PuO2+ 96% ThO2; CD 6% RG-PuO2 + 94% ThO2; (3) 10% RG-PuO2+ 90% ThO2; 20% RG-PuO2+ 80% ThO2; (5) 30% RG-PuO2 + 70% ThO2. Initial reactor criticality (k(infinity,0) values) for the modes (1), (2), (3), (4) and are calculated as 1.4294, 1.5035, 1.5678, 1.6249, and 1.6535, respectively. Corresponding operation lifetimes are similar to 0.65, 1.1, 1.9.3.5, and 4.8 years and with burn ups of 30000, 60000, 100000. 200000 and 290000 MW d/tonne, respectively. The higher initial plutonium charge is the higher burn ups can be achieved. In the second phase, a graphical-numerical power flattening procedure has been applied with radially variable mixed fuel composition in the fuel bundle. Mixed fuel fractions leading to quasi-constant power production are found in the 1st, 2nd. 3rd and 4th row to be as 100% PuO2, 80/20% PuO2/ThO2, 60/40% PuO2/ThO2, and 40/60% PuO2/ThO2, respectively. Higher plutonium amount in the flattened case increases reactor operation lifetime to >8 years and the burn up to 580 000 MW d/tonne. Power flattening in the bundle leads to higher power plant factor and quasi-uniform fuel utilization, reduces thermal and material stresses, and avoids local thermal peaks. Extended burn-up grade implies drastic reduction of the nuclear waste material per unit energy output for final waste disposal. (C) 2010 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.Conference Object Citation - WoS: 8Citation - Scopus: 7UTILIZATION OF REACTOR GRADE PLUTONIUM AS ENERGY MULTIPLIER IN THE LIFE ENGINE(Amer Nuclear Soc, 2012) Sahin, Sumer; Sahin, Haci Mehmet; Acir, AdemThe accumulated reactor grade (RG)-plutonium as nuclear waste of conventional reactors is estimated to exceed 1700 tonnes. Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion Fission Energy (LIFE) engine is considered to incinerate RG-plutonium in stockpiles. Calculations have been conducted for a constant fusion driver power of 500 MWth in S-8-P-3 approximation using 238-neutron groups. RG-plutonium out of the nuclear waste of LWRs is used in form of fissile carbide fuel in TRISO particles with volume fractions of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 %, homogenously dispersed in the Flibe coolant. Respective tritium breeding ratio (TBR) values per incident fits ion neutron are calculated as TBR = 1.35, 1.52, 1.73, 2.02 and 2.47 at start-up. With the burn up of fissionable RG-Pu isotopes in the coolant, TBR decreases gradually. Similarly, blanket energy multiplications are calculated as M-0 = 3.8, 5.5, 7.7, 10.8 and 15.4 at start-up, respectively. Calculations have indicated prospects of achievability of very high burn up values (> 400 000 MD.D/MT).Conference Object Citation - WoS: 5Citation - Scopus: 5REDUCTION OF WEAPON GRADE PLUTONIUM INVENTORIES IN A THORIUM BURNER(Amer Nuclear Soc, 2012) Sahin, Sumer; Sahin, Haci Mehmet; Acir, AdemLarge quantities of weapon grade (WG) plutonium have been accumulated in the nuclear warheads. Plutonium and heavy water moderator can give a good combination with respect to neutron economy. TRISO type fuel can withstand very high fuel burn up levels. The paper investigates the prospects of utilization of TRISO fuel made of WG-plutonium in CANDU reactors. Three different fuel compositions have been investigated: (1): 90 % ThC + 10 % PuC, (2): 70 % ThC + 30 % PziC and (3): 50 ThC + 50 % PuC. The temporal variation of the criticality k(infinity) and the burn-up values of the reactor have been calculated by full power operation up to 17 years. Calculated startup criticalities for these fuel modes are k(infinity),(0) = 1.6403, 1.7228, 1.7662, respectively. Attainable burn up values and reactor operation times with the same fuel charge will be 94 700, 265 000, 425 000 MW.D/MT and similar to 3.5, 10, 17 years, respectively. These high burn ups would reduce fuel fabrication costs and nuclear waste mass for final disposal per unit energy drastically.
