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Question 7.5: Using the equations presented previously and assuming that t......

Using the equations presented previously and assuming that the nuclear fuel is Uranium-233 instead of Uranium-235, estimate the number of grams of U-233 that must be consumed per day to produce 1000 MWT of recoverable power.

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From the equations presented previously, it can be seen that a 1000 MWT reactor will require a daily consumption rate of 1000 × 1.05(1 + α) = 1050(1 + α) g/day of whatever fissile material it uses. In the case of Uranium-233, the value for α (from Table 7.12) is 0.089, and therefore, 1050 (1 + 0.089) = 1143.45 g of Uranium-233 must be consumed to generate this amount of power for 1 day. This is equivalent to about 2.5 lbs of Uranium-233 consumed per day.

TABLE 7.12
Fission Threshold Energy for the Most Common Heavy Elements in MeV
Isotope Name Type of Nuclear
Material		 Isotopic Rest
Mass (AMU)		 Total Binding
Energy of All
Nucleons (MeV)		 Fission Threshold
Energy (MeV)		 Binding Energy of
Last Neutron (MeV)
Th-232 Fertile 232.038051 5.9 N/A^a
Th-233 Fissionable 6.5 5.1
U-233 Fissile 233.039628 1771.8 5.5 N/A
U-234 Fissionable 234.040947 1776.6 4.6 6.6
U-235 Fissile 235.043924 1783.9 5.75 N/A
U-236 Fissionable 236.045563 1790.4 5.3 6.4
U-238 Fissionable 236.050785 1801.7 5.85 N/A
U-239 Fissionable 239.05429 1806.5 5.5 4.9
Pu-239 Fissile 239.052158 1806.9 5.5 N/A
Pu-240 Fissionable 4.0 6.4
Source: L amarsh, J.R., Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory, second printing, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., Reading, MA, 1972.

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