Simulation Analysis on Nonproliferation Risk of Commercial Power Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear nonproliferation is a common objective for the international society, one of the most important issues of which is the nonproliferation of weapon grade nuclear material. Plutonium is a by-product when nuclear reactors are operating, If not caring about economic benefits, nuclear reactors using uranium as nuclear fuel can produce weapon-grade plutonium(WGPu). In the paper, we quantitatively study the amount and distribution of the WGPu produced in pressurized water reactor (PWR), which indicates the proliferation risk of commercial nuclear reactors. . In order to calculate the amount of WGPu produced in a PWR, we carry out neutronic and burnup calculations on Takahama-3’s burnup zone model of pin-by-pin 1/4 using MCORGS and JMCT. Based on the WGPu existing condition and the spatial distribution of a PWR’s burnup, the paper presents the distribution of WGPu contained in PWR’s core and the amount of WGPu in the PWR. The calculation result indicates that the spent nuclear fuel(NSF) with low burnup brings huge proliferation risk, the supervision of which should be strengthened.The spent nuclear fuel with low burnup brings huge proliferation risk, the supervision of which should be strengthened.