Core performance and proliferation resistance prospective of a novel natural uranium fueled, heavy water moderated nuclear research reactor

Three-dimensional burnup calculations were carried out to analyze the performance and proliferation resistance prospective of a novel natural uranium fueled, D2O moderated, D2O cooled and graphite reflected nuclear research reactor. The lattice simulation code WIMS-D/4 generated microscopic group constants, (σa, σf, σtr, ν etc.,), in conjunction with the diffusion theory based reactor core simulation code CITATION was employed in this study. For comparison purposes, NRX/CIR, a natural uranium fueled, light water cooled, heavy water moderated and graphite reflected reactor, was also analyzed. The analyses show that, besides the enhancement of core performance in terms of flux per unit core power, there is a significant reduction in plutonium produced per unit neutron fluence given off by the new proposed core compared to NRX/CIR. Moreover, the calculated thermal hydraulic safety parameters of the proposed and NRX/CIR are comparable; therefore, the thermal performance of the core is similar to that of original NRX/CIR design.