Effects of Am and Cm distributions on neutronic parameters of MINERVE reactor

Minor actinide recycling and transmutation are important stages in the advanced nuclear systems design such as Generation IV reactors that offers a high level of safety, waste reduction, and minimizes its environmental and radiological impacts. In the present work, two preliminary model configurations are used to examine the effects of adding two long-lived isotopes of minor actinides (243Am and 247Cm) in MINERVE reactor reference core (R1-UO2) that represents a LWR loaded with UO2 fuel rods. The effects are studied in two models of uniform and nonuniform minor actinides distributions, and include the numerical evaluation of neutronic parameters such as neutron spectrum, flux distribution and fission rate, using MCNPX transport code. The analysis of and comparison between the uniform and nonuniform models have been discussed to evaluate which of either is expected to be favored for minor actinide transmutation and energy production.