Dynamical analysis of an accelerator-based fluid-fueled subcritical radioactive waste burning system

The recent revival of interest in accelerator-driven subcritical fluid-fueled systems is documented. Several important applications of these systems are mentioned. In particular, new applications have focused on the destruction of high-level radioactive waste. Systems can be designed to quickly destroy the actinides and long-lived fission products from light water reactor fuel, weapons plutonium, and other high-level defense wastes. The proposed development of these systems is used to motivate the need for the development of dynamic analysis methods for their nuclear kinetics. A physical description of the Los Alamos Accelerator-Based Conversion (ABC) concept is provided. This system is used as the basis for the kinetics study in this research.;The current approach to the dynamic simulation of an accelerator-driven subcritical fluid-fueled system includes three elements: A discrete ordinates model is used to calculate the flux distribution for the source-driven system; A nodal convection model is used to calculate time-dependent isotope and temperature distributions which impact reactivity; A nodal importance weighting model is used to calculate the reactivity impact of temperature and isotope distributions and to feed this information back to the time-dependent nodal convection model.;Specific transients which have been analyzed with the current modeling system are discussed. These transients include loss-of-flow and loss-of-cooling accidents, xenon and samarium transients, and cold-plug and overfueling events. The results of various transients have uncovered unpredictable behavior, unresolved design issues, and the need for active control. Modest initiating events can cause significant swings in system temperature and power. The circulation of the fluid fuel can lead to oscillations on the relatively short scale of the loop circulation time. The system responds quickly to reactivity changes because the large neutron source overwhelms the damping effect of delayed neutron precursor decay. The need for the development of a nodal coupling spatial kinetics model is mentioned.