A multidisciplinary framework from reactors to repositories for evaluating spent nuclear fuel from advanced reactors.

ABSTRACT: This study presents a multidisciplinary reactor-to-repository framework to compare different advanced reactors with respect to their spent nuclear fuel (SNF) disposal. The framework consists of (1) OpenMC for simulating neutronics, fuel depletion, and radioactive decays; (2) NWPY for computing the repository footprint given the thermal constraints; and (3) PFLOTRAN for simulating radionuclide transport in the geosphere to quantify the repository performance and environmental impact. We first perform the meta-analysis of past comparative analyses to identify the factors that led previously to their inconsistent conclusions. We then demonstrate the new framework by comparing five reactor types. Our analysis highlights the granularity and the specificities of each reactor and fuel type so tha

SUBMITTER: Wainwright HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11541758 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature