Irradiation Behavior of Thoria-Urania Fuel in a PWR

A thoria-urania (ThO₂-UO₂) fuel performance analysis code was developed by adding performance models and material properties correlations for thoria-urania fuel to a UO₂ fuel performance analysis code, and its prediction capability was validated by comparison with thoria-urania fuel irradiation test data. Analysis of the ThO₂-UO₂ fuel performance in a typical pressurized water reactor showed that it could be irradiated up to a burnup of 70 to 100 MWd/kg heavy metal by optimizing the fuel rod design, and the overall irradiation performance of the ThO₂-UO₂ fuel would be somewhat better than for UO₂ fuel.