Assessments of the Thorium and Uranium Fuel Cycle in Fast Breeder Reactors and High Temperature Reactors

Schikorr, W.M. (1979). Assessments of the Thorium and Uranium Fuel Cycle in Fast Breeder Reactors and High Temperature Reactors. IIASA Collaborative Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: CP-79-019

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Abstract

This assessment was performed between 1973 and 1977 at the Nuclear Research Center Karlsruhe (KFK), F.R.G., and is in line with research work going on at the Energy Systems Program of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) at Laxenburg, Austria.

The point of interest was to understand in some detail the capability of a Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) of a design considered and explored today in producing U233 in the radial blanket, with a view to using this U233 in High Temperature Reactors (HTRs). More specifically, the problem was to look at design changes of FBR cores that would or would not be necessary if a thorium blanket were installed instead of a UO_2 blanket. This investigation was to be complemented by identification of the features of the reactor strategy scenarios that should become possible in this way.

The operation of an FBR/HTR compound based on the breeding capabilities of the FBR can serve to generate not only electricity but also high temperature process heat, under practically no resource supply constraints and thus for a virtually unlimited period of time. Such process heat could facilitate the production of hydrogen or other chemical processes used for energy supply.

The energy studies at IIASA clearly point to the medium- and long-range necessity to apply nuclear power to purposes other than solely electricity. Therefore, the present report should be seen in conjunction with the forthcoming book on "Energy in a Finite World -- A Global Systems Analysis" by IIASA's Energy Systems Program reporting in greater depth on the energy systems analysis it has performed. The present study by its very nature equally relates to the work of the Fast Breeder Project of the Nuclear Research Center Karlsruhe.

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