Radiation protection of mox-fuel by doping with 231Pa and 232U

The paper addresses the problem of MOX-fuel self-protection at the “Spent Fuel Standard” level and more during full cycle of MOX-fuel management. Under conditions of the closed LWR cycle the proliferation-resistance levels were evaluated for fresh and spent MOX-fuel doped with 231Pa and 232U. According to the evaluations, it was derived that cyclic regime with Pa-U feeding at the level of 5% HM makes it possible to achieve the proliferation resistance of fresh MOX-fuel at the level high enough to protect it against short-term unauthorized actions (receiving the lethal dose for about 10 minutes in the vicinity of MOX-fuel assembly) and also against the acts of terrorism (receiving the shock lethal dose for a few minutes).