Engineering design studies for the transmutation of nuclear wastes with a gas-cooled pebble-bed ADS

Transmutation of nuclear wastes is being explored for its application to waste management, a fundamental issue for nuclear industry, and to enhance the efficiency of the nuclear fuel cycle. Several concepts are under consideration for this purpose, mainly fast breeder reactors and accelerator driven system (ADS). Inside this second category, an engineering analysis of a demonstration device of an helium-cooled graphite moderated subcritical assembly, which uses as fuel a small amount of transuranics diluted in the form of TRISO coated particles on graphite pebbles, has been addressed.