Expanded 233U Breeding in the Heavy-Water Blanket of an Electronuclear System

Comparative investigations are performed of the neutron-physical characteristics and their variations during burnup for two types of fuel Th–U and U–Pu with heavy- and light-water lattices. Analysis of the results gives the basic parameters of the electronuclear system operating in a thorium–uranium fuel cycle. It is shown that an external neutron source (accelerator + target) makes it possible to switch to the thorium–uranium fuel cycle with expanded 233U breeding without using fissioning uranium or plutonium isotopes. There are grounds for believing that with a higher accelerator current it is possible to achieve a regime where the heavy-water blanket can be replenished only with thorium with no 233U.