High-Safety Fast Reactor Core Concepts to Improve Transmutation Efficiency of Long-lived Radioactive Waste

High-safety FR core concepts to improve transmutation efficiency of MAs were proposed. A heterogeneous MA loaded core was designed based on the 1000MWt-ABR breakeven core, which assumes the same amount of MAs with the 5%-MA homogeneous loaded core. The heterogeneous MA loaded core with 25%-ZrH1.6 loaded moderator targets had a better transmutation performance than the 5%-MA homogeneous loaded core. As one of the possible design options for the MA target, the annular pellet rod design was proposed. It was shown that using the annular pellet MA rods mitigates the self-shielding effect in the moderated target so as to enhance the transmutation rate.