STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF THORIUM AS A FUEL AND PROTACTINIUM-231 AS A BURNABLE POISON ON VODOVODYANOI ENYERGETICHESKIY REACTOR-1000 FUEL ASSEMBLY USING MONTE CARLO N-PARTICLE (MCNP) SIMULATION

• Main Author: Wijaya, Kevin
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/67597
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

One type of nuclear reactor is the Vodo-Vodyanoi Enyergeticheskiy Reactor-1000 (VVER-1000). VVER-1000 is a generation III fission reactor with a thermal power of 3000 MWth. In this final project, we will discuss the effect of giving thorium as a fuel and protactinium as a combustible poison in the VVER-1000 fuel assembly using a simulation program based on Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) which is a license code from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The purpose of this study was to determine the multiplication factor of the fuel assembly with variations in ThO2 and variations in the fractions of gadolinium and protactinium231, as well as the burnup rate for 5 years. Thorium-232 is predicted to be a substitute for UO2 fuel in reactors because of its abundant material and can produce uranium-233 which is a better fuel than uranium-235. While protactinium-231 has a function other than absorbing neutrons, generating it can further produce fissile material that aids in chain reactions. Simulation of using MCNP to determine the effective multiplication factor with variations of ThO2 fraction for 3 cases of administration of combustible poison, as well as variations of the fraction of combustible poison itself. Results Based on the simulation, the fuel assembly with Pa-231 as burnable poison has a higher value than gadolinium. In addition, the larger the burnable poison fraction, the closer the multiplication factor ratio is. In addition, the multiplication factor and burnup rate were also obtained for 5 years.