Design optimization of ADS plant proposed by JAERI

JAERI is conducting R&D on the Accelerator Driven System (ADS) to transmute minor actinides (MAs). The present study discusses the design of the ADS plant and various R&D on the ADS. The reference design of ADS plant in JAERI is the 800 MW, Pb–Bi eutectic (LBE) cooled, tank-type subcritical reactor loaded with (MA+Pu) nitride fuel. LBE is selected as a spallation target material. In our results of the optimization study on the neutronics of the ADS, we have adopted the maximum multiplication factor (keff) of 0.97. From the results of thermal-hydraulic and structural analysis, the feasibility of the beam window was confirmed for steady state. The R&D activities in JAERI cover the development of superconducting proton linear accelerator, the LBE technology, the irradiation damages of materials, and the reactor physics of the subcritical reactor.