Evaluation of the Americium transmutation performance in high flux reactors

• The numerical transmutation of Americium heterogeneous loaded for one cycle in thermal high flux reactor category was realized.
• The transmutation calculations are performed based on ChainSolver 2.34 code.
• The obtained data are compared with experimental ones.
• We propose a new concept of high flux reactor destined for the destruction of actinide minors, in particular 241Am.

The numerical transmutation of Americium heterogeneous loaded for one cycle in thermal high flux reactor category was realized. The transmutation calculations are performed based on ChainSolver 2.34 code. A comparison with the measurement and calculation results of the burn up of 241Am irradiated in HFR at Petten was examined to evaluate the accuracy of current available numerical tool. To reach the Am destruction with a short irradiation time, a high flux SM3 reactor having a flux density of thermal neutrons higher than 1015 cm−2 s−1 was proposed. To obtain transmutation rate of 99.75%, the Am samples needed only 90 exposure days in full power for SM3 reactor. The effectiveness results suggested an effective use of SM3 as compared to Petten HFR. Finally, the results have been discussed in order to propose a new concept of high flux reactor destined for the destruction of actinide minors, in particular 241Am.