Preliminary studies of a new accelerator-driven minor actinide burner in industrial scale

Abstract Pursuing high transmutation rate of minor actinide (MA), a preliminary conceptual design of a lead-bismuth (LBE) cooled accelerator-driven system (ADS) is proposed in this study. Parametric studies are performed to optimize the neutronics and thermal-hydraulics performances. The proton energy and axial position of the proton beam impact is investigated to obtain high neutron source efficiency and spallation neutron yield. The influences of MA/Pu mixing ratio and the ratio of pin pitch to diameter (P/D) are also optimized to control the burnup reactivity swing and the minimum coolant velocity for adequate cooling. To reduce the power peak, three kinds of power flattening techniques are adopted and compared. The results show that the inert matrix ratio zone loading method seems more versatile. Based on the analyses, an optimized three zone loading pattern is proposed for the 800 MWth subcritical core. The total transmutation rate of MA is 328.8 kg per effective full power year. Preliminary safety analyses based on the balance of power method (BOP) are performed and the results show that in the reactivity insertion and beam overpower transients, the core shows inherent safety, but the scram is necessary by cutting off the beam current to protect the core from possible damages caused by the loss of flow.