Plutonium breeder LMFBR fuels

Plutonium breeder LMFBR fuels, 6, 926 Plutonium carbide nuclear fuels, 6, 928 Plutonium complexes, 3,1131-1215 cupferron, 2, 510 Plutonium(III) complexes... 

The plutonium fuel in a breeder reactor behaves differently than uranium. Fast neutrons are required to split plutonium. For this reason, water cannot be used in breeder reactors because it moderates the neutrons. Liquid sodium is typically used in breeder reactors, and the term liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) is used to describe it. One of the controversies associated with the breeder reactor is that it results... 

The projections are based on a recent forecast (Case B) by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) of nuclear power growth in the United States (2) and on fuel mass-flow data developed for light water reactors fueled with uranium (LWR-U) or mixed uranium and plutonium oxide (LWR-Pu), a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), and two liquid-metal-cooled fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs). Nuclear characteristics of the fuels and wastes were calculated using the computer code ORIGEN (3). 

A solvent extraction process similar to Purex using TBP was developed by the Commissariat a I Energie Atomique [Gl] for use in the French plutonium separation plant at Marcoule. Since then, the Purex process has replaced the Butex process at Windscale [W3], has been used in the Soviet Union [Sll], India [S7], and Germany [S3], and by now is the universal choice for separation of uranium and plutonium from fission products in irradiated sUghtly enriched uranium. Fuel from the liquid-metal fast-breeder reactor (LMFBR) is also reprocessed by the Purex process, with modifications to accommodate the higher concentrations of plutonium and fission products. 

Oxide fuels have demonstrated very satisfactory high-temperature, dimensional, and radiation stability and chemical compatibility with cladding metals and coolant in light-water reactor service. Under the much more severe conditions in a fast reactor, however, even inert UO2 begins to respond to its environment in a manner that is often detrimental to fuel performance. Uranium dioxide is almost exclusively used in light-water-moderated reactors (LWR). Mixed oxides of uranium and plutonium are used in liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBR). 

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