Neutronic and thermohydraulic characteristics of a new breeding thorium-uranium mixed SCWR fuel assembly

The exploitation of thorium fuel is a promising way to overcome the pressing problems of nuclear fuel supply, nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation. In this paper, a novel conceptual design of a breeding thorium-uranium (Th-U) mixed fuel assembly in SCWR is proposed, which is aimed to achieve the breeding ratio bigger than 1.0, so as to fulfill the sustainable breeding thorium-uranium cycle. Through the calculations of neutronics and neutronic/thermohydraulic (N-T) coupling, the results indicate that the introduced conceptual design of a breeding Th-U mixed fuel assembly in SCWR satisfies design rules of SCWR, with considerable advantages with respect to breeding performance, lower minor actinide generation and reactor safety.