Toxicity of irradiated advanced heavy water reactor fuels

The good neutron economy and online refueling capability of the CANDU® heavy water moderated reactor (HWR) enable it to use many different fuels such as low enriched uranium (LEU), plutonium, or thorium, in addition to its traditional natural uranium (NU) fuel. The toxicity and radiological protecti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHealth physics (1958) Vol. 104; no. 2; p. 195
Main Authors Priest, N D, Richardson, R B, Edwards, G W R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.02.2013
Subjects
Biological Assay
Biological Availability
Deuterium Oxide - chemistry
Humans
Kinetics
Nuclear Reactors
Occupational Exposure - adverse effects
Occupational Exposure - analysis
Radiation Protection
Radiobiology
Radioisotopes - chemistry
Radioisotopes - pharmacokinetics
Radioisotopes - toxicity
Radioisotopes - urine
Radiometry
Software
Uranium - chemistry
Uranium - pharmacokinetics
Uranium - toxicity
Uranium - urine
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Summary:The good neutron economy and online refueling capability of the CANDU® heavy water moderated reactor (HWR) enable it to use many different fuels such as low enriched uranium (LEU), plutonium, or thorium, in addition to its traditional natural uranium (NU) fuel. The toxicity and radiological protection methods for these proposed fuels, unlike those for NU, are not well established. This study uses software to compare the fuel composition and toxicity of irradiated NU fuel against those of two irradiated advanced HWR fuel bundles as a function of post-irradiation time. The first bundle investigated is a CANFLEX® low void reactor fuel (LVRF), of which only the dysprosium-poisoned central element, and not the outer 42 LEU elements, is specifically analyzed. The second bundle investigated is a heterogeneous high-burnup (LEU,Th)O(2) fuelled bundle, whose two components (LEU in the outer 35 elements and thorium in the central eight elements) are analyzed separately. The LVRF central element was estimated to have a much lower toxicity than that of NU at all times after shutdown. Both the high burnup LEU and the thorium fuel had similar toxicity to NU at shutdown, but due to the creation of such inhalation hazards as (238)Pu, (240)Pu, (242)Am, (242)Cm, and (244)Cm (in high burnup LEU), and (232)U and (228)Th (in irradiated thorium), the toxicity of these fuels was almost double that of irradiated NU after 2,700 d of cooling. New urine bioassay methods for higher actinoids and the analysis of thorium in fecal samples are recommended to assess the internal dose from these two fuels.
ISSN:1538-5159
DOI:10.1097/HP.0b013e3182764cf5