NUCLEAR REACTOR (VERSIONS), REACTOR CORE OPERATION PROCESS (VERSIONS), AND REACTOR CORE (VERSIONS) Russian patent published in 2001 - IPC

FIELD: light-water nuclear reactors using thorium as fuel. SUBSTANCE: reactor core that has seed region and blanket region burns thorium together with standard nuclear fuel including non-proliferated enriched uranium and also weapon and reactor plutonium. Core of first alternative is fully non-proliferated since neither reactor fuel nor wastes produced in the process may be used for manufacturing nuclear weapons. Core of second alternative burns great amount of weapon plutonium together with thorium and provides for adequate means to destroy accumulated weapon plutonium and to convert energy released into electrical energy. . Both alternatives of reactor core have many seed-and- blanket modules with central seed regions surrounded by circular blanket regions. Seed regions have uranium or plutonium fuel rods and blanket regions, thorium fuel rods. Moderator-to-fuel volume ratio and relative dimensions of seed and blanket regions are optimized so that neither of them could produce wastes that might be used for manufacturing nuclear weapons. New refueling scheme is introduced in first alternative for maximal recovery of seed-region fuel at the same time guaranteeing that spent nuclear fuel cannot be used for manufacturing nuclear weapons. EFFECT: provision for preventing recovery of spent fuel for manufacturing nuclear weapons. 47 cl, 16 dwg, tbl