Double-strata high burnup fuel performance in light water reactors

This study is aimed at the development of a fuel cycle concept for host countries with a lack of nuclear infrastructure. Two interrelated criteria, proliferation resistance and high-burnup, form the general framework of the fuel management scenario with the highest priority given to light water reactor technology and plutonium-free fresh fuel. Logically it implies the use of uranium oxide with enrichment close to 20%, whose effective utilization forms the main subject of the present paper. A sequence of two irradiation cycles for the same fuel pins in two different light water reactors is the key feature of the advocated approach. It is found that the synergism of PWR and pressure tube graphite reactor offers fuel burnup up to 140 GWd/tHM. Being as large as 8% in the final isotopic vector, the fraction of 238Pu serves as an inherent protective measure against plutonium proliferation.