Reactor, breeder homogeneous

B. E. Prince, Breeding Ratio in Thorium Breeder Reactors, in Homogeneous Reactor Project Quarterly Progress Report for the Period Ending Jan. 31, 1958, USAEC Report ORNL-2493, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1958. 

Parametric cost studies at ORNL. The homogeneous reactor systems considered include one- and two-region reactors, breeders, converters, and burners. Although no one fuel or type of reactor shows a marked advantage in power cost over all the others, the superior fuel utilization of a thorium breeder system suggests that it is potentially the most economical one for power production. Much effort has been devoted... 

The homogeneous reactor experiment-2 (HRE-2) was tested as a power-breeder in the late 1950s. The core contained highly enriched uranyl sulfate in heavy water and the reflector contained a slurry of thorium oxide [1314-20-1J, Th02, in D2O. The reactor thus produced fissile uranium-233 by absorption of neutrons in thorium-232 [7440-29-1J, the essentially stable single isotope of thorium. Local deposits of uranium caused reactivity excursions and intense sources of heat that melted holes in the container (18), and the project was terrninated. 

P, based on work at Clinton laboratories in 1946, describes a homogeneous solution breeder. The Homogeneous Reactor Experiment and the Homogeneous Reactor Test, both built at Oak Ridge, embodied the ideas of 25P. 

A.88oelated with the development of Liquid-Metal Fhst Breeder Reactors will be the need to fabricate, process, and recover larp quantities of mixed PuCh-UQi fuels. There is, however, a lack of homogeneous experimental criticality data that can be used to provide guidance for establishing nuclear criticality safety specifications for fuels typical of those to be encountered in the LMFBR program. Consequently, one must resort to computed values for guidance. ... 

Most of the fast reactor benchmarks in the CSEWG compilation date back 10 to 20 years or more. Many of these integral measurements remain of value today, particularly those in the homogeneous cores built at Los Alamos. Data for cores with liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) compositions and specti a are obtained in the plate-type criticals. Some of these data were obtained by methods now considered inadequate arid have lost their usefulness. For example, measurements of fission in a counter positioned in a cavity are difficult to correct for environmental effects arid often give discrepant results. Measured capture rates are of prime importance and the foil techniqueis remain the... 

Despite the limited solubility of BaO in UO2 (quite in contrast to SrO, which is highly soluble), barium seems to be homogeneously distributed in the irradiated fuel matrix, presumably as Ba(II) in the UO2 lattice. Barium can also be incorporated into the perovskite-type grey phase which was detected predominantly in high-burnup fast breeder reactor fuels however, the significance of this phase in irradiated LWR fuels seems to be questionable. The chemical state of fission product barium in the oxide fuel apparently depends strongly on the stoichiometry of... 

The PBWFR is a fast breeder reactor with a breeding ratio of 1.1. The core is of homogeneous type and has 2 regions. With nitride fuel, the core lifetime of 15-years is achieved without reloading or shuffling of fuel. 

Waltar, A. E. and A. B. Reynolds. 1981. Fast Breeder Reactors. New York Pergamon Press. This book discusses the basic principles and methods as well as design features of fast breeder reactors. Each chapter ends with references and problems to be solved. Appendices include fast reactor data, comparison of homogeneous and heterogeneous core designs, and a list of symbols. 

The power output of such a breeder with a three-year doubling time is about 10,000 kw, and this was established as a new goal for the homogeneous reactor. The reactor, then, was conceived to be a prototype homogeneous reactor and thermal breeder in addition, it was conceived as an all-purpose experimental tool with a neutron flux higher than any other reactor. 

D. E. Ferguson, Removal of Iodine from Homogeneous Reactors, USAEC Report CF-56-2-81, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1956 Preliminary Design of an Iodine Removal System for a JJiO-Mw Thorium Breeder Reactor, USAEC Report CF-56-7-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1956. 

One-region breeders and converters, such as the Pennsylvania Advanced Reactor reference design by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the Homogeneous I lutonium Producer Study by Argonne National Laboratory, and the IDual Purpose Feasibility Study by Commonwealth hldi.son. 

Two-region breeders, represented by the Nuclear Power Group studies, the Bab( ock Wilcox Breeder Reactor, and a sequence of conceptual designs by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Homogeneous Reactor Project. 

Fig. 10-1. Schematic fuel-processing flowsheet for a two-region homogeneous thorium breeder reactor.

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