燃料要素、燃料集合体、及び燃料要素を製造する方法

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide nuclear fuel in a light water reactor that burns thorium with nuclear fuel weapon-graded and reactor-graded plutonium and conventional reactor nuclear fuel containing nondiffusible enriched uranium.SOLUTION: A nuclear reactor core is composed of a set of seed-blanket assemblies having a central seed area surrounded by an annular blanket. The seed area contains uranium or plutonium fuel rods, and the blanket area contains thorium fuel rods. The volume ratio of a moderator to nuclear fuel and the relative size between the seed area and the blanket area are optimized so that no waste available for manufacturing nuclear weapons is produced. A new fuel supply system is used to maximally recycle seed nuclear fuel. The system is also made unable to use spent nuclear fuel for manufacturing nuclear weapons.