RE: So, is reprocessing in America's future?

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@AECL.CA>]

 Raymond Shadis wrote :



<SNIP>

perhaps you would be willing to say: At 10GWd/tonne, what percentage of Pu -

240, 241, 242 would

be present in CANDU fuel?

<><><><><><><><><><><><>



Ans.: 



Nuclear-Material Grade definitions :



"weapons-grade" fissile fraction --  >93% Pu-239 or 93% U-235



"fuel-grade plutonium" fissile fraction --  81-93% Pu-239

(above definition no longer in use, since 1960s)



"reactor grade plutonium" fissile fraction -- about 50-65% Pu-239 - see

tables below :





Pu Composition ( %) in PWR, BWR and CANDU Spent Fuel, no MOX recycling.



                           PWR            BWR            CANDU	

	          42 MWd/kg    33 MWd/kg    7.5 MWd/kg	

Pu-238                 2.7                 1.70                    -	

Pu-239	               54.5               53.66               64.88	

Pu-240	               22.9               25.54               27.41	

Pu-241	               11.7               13.68                 6.12	

Pu-242	                  7                    5.42                 1.58



Am-241                1.2                   -                       -	

Total Fissile Pu  66.2                67.34              71.01	



Note:



PWR data from Gloabl'97 Proceedings, " Full MOX Core for PWRs", by Andre

Puil et al

BWR data from ORIGEN-2 run by C.R.Boss for EPDC studies in 1986

CANDU data from C-6 Physics Design Manual

[also, the units MWd/kg are equivalent to GWd/tonne]



Another reference, Alexander DeVolpi's 1979 book on Plutonium &

Proliferation, gives the following, only slightly different figures (Table

C-1, page 220), taken from his reference, ERDA-76 :



                          PWR            BWR      CANDU-Pickering

	         ?? MWd/kg    ?? MWd/kg     ?? MWd/kg	

Pu-238                 ?                     ?                    ?

Pu-239	               56.9               57.8               62.7	

Pu-240	               25.7               25.9               29.6	

Pu-241	               12.6               11.6                 5.5	

Pu-242	                 4.7                 4.5                 2.2	

Am-241                  ?                    ?                    ?

Total Fissile Pu  69.5                69.4              68.2	



[ question marks are to indicate data missing from DeVolpi's table]



With MOX recycling, the Pu-239 fraction decreases further.



Regards,



Jaro

frantaj@aecl.ca

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