Nonproliferation Issue of the Pebble Bed High-Temperature Reactor

The constraints of nonproliferation of weapons-grade fuel are most favorably observed in the medium enriched uranium (MEU) fuel cycle of the pebble bed high-temperature reactor, using 20% enriched uranium as feed and thorium as breed material. The cycle can be designed so that the uranium enrichment never exceeds the limitation defined for nonsensitive fuel. In the spent fuel, the amount of fissile plutonium is one order of magnitude lower than for the light water reactor and it is strongly denatured by the even-numbered plutonium isotopes. In the once-through option applied in the introductory phase of the reactor, the proliferation restraints of the plutonium are furnished by the choice of the carbon/heavy metal ratio higher than 450 and of the burnup of 100 MWd/kg heavy metal. The Pu_fiss/Pu_total is achieved as low as 37%, and the admixing of 8% of ²³⁸Pu would complicate its handling by the decay heat rating. In the closed MEU cycle, the ²³⁸U is continuously separated from the cycle by the use of two different types of fuel elements: Thorium and 20% enriched uranium are inserted into the feed elements, and the uranium recovered from the reprocessing is loaded into the burnup elements, without thorium. These elements are removed from the cycle without reprocessing. Again the proliferation risk of the fissile plutonium is minimized because of its very low quantity and high denaturization.