Identification of impact of minor actinide addition on burnup process and heavy nuclide evolution in UN-PuN fueled small modular gas-cooled fast reactors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2026.352394Keywords:
conversion ratio, GFR, COREBN, k-eff, minor actinide, radiopharmaceutical, SMR, transmutationAbstract
The object of this study is a small modular gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) fuelled by UN-PuN with minor actinides (MA) addition. The problem solved in this study is the identification of the impact of MA addition on the criticality, fuel burnup stability, and nuclear waste transmutation of the small modular GFR. The parameters studied include k-eff, macroscopic cross-section, conversion ratio (CR), heavy nuclides inventory, and the probability of radiopharmaceutical isotope production. The study was conducted using SRAC-COREBN computational analysis, and the MA used in this study were Pa-231, Am-241, and Np-237. The results obtained that the MA addition, on average, results in a decrease in k-eff, the magnitude of which depends on the type and concentration of MA. Macroscopic cross-section analysis reveals shifts in values, such as an increase in the Macroscopic cross-section absorption, particularly in the case of Am-241. Then, an increase in the macroscopic cross-section of fission is passed at high energies. The CR > 1 and inversion ratio of heavy nuclide approximately are observed at 50% in all configurations. Furthermore, the evolution of fission products such as Tc-99, Rh-105, and I-135 suggests the chance production of radiopharmaceutical isotope. Interpretation of the results show that adding MA effect k-eff and CR because isotopes such as Am-241, Np-237, and Pa-231 actively participate in fission and conversion of fissile material using fast neutron spectrum. A key feature of obtained results is a stable burnup profile, where the MA effectively functions in target transmutation without disrupting the consumption of the primary fissile fuel. These findings could be a technical basis for supporting national energy security and sustainable nuclear waste management.
References
- Zhan, L., Bo, Y., Lin, T., Fan, Z. (2021). Development and outlook of advanced nuclear energy technology. Energy Strategy Reviews, 34, 100630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2021.100630
- GIF Annual Report. Available at: https://www.gen-4.org/resources/annual-reports/2022-gif-annual-report
- GIF Annual Report. Available at: https://www.gen-4.org/resources/annual-reports/2023-gif-annual-report
- Zajac, R., Hatala, B., Dařílek, P. (2014). Introduction Gas Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) general concept, history and design. Stockholm.
- Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Research and Development Roadmap (2017). Idaho. Available at: https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/Sort_1841.pdf
- Hore-Lacy, I. (2007). Nuclear Power. Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century, 37–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012373622-2/50006-4
- Lennox, T. A., Millington, D. N., Sunderland, R. E. (2007). Plutonium management and Generation IV systems. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 49 (8), 589–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2007.02.004
- Delage, F., Ramond, L., Gallais-During, A., Pillon, S. (2020). Actinide-Bearing Fuels and Transmutation Targets. Comprehensive Nuclear Materials, 645–683. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-803581-8.12049-1
- Liou, J. (2025). What are Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)? IAEA. Available at: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-are-small-modular-reactors-smrs
- Small Modular Reactors: Advances in SMR Developments 2024. IAEA. https://doi.org/10.61092/iaea.3o4h-svum
- Syarifah, R. D., Yulianto, Y., Su’ud, Z., Basar, K., Irwanto, D. (2016). Design Study of 200MWth Gas Cooled Fast Reactor with Nitride (UN-PuN) Fuel Long Life without Refueling. MATEC Web of Conferences, 82, 03008. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20168203008
- Syarifah, R. D., Arkundato, A., Irwanto, D., Su’ud, Z. (2020). Neutronic analysis of comparation UN-PuN fuel and ThN fuel for 300MWth Gas Cooled Fast Reactor long life without refueling. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1436 (1), 012132. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1436/1/012132
- Raflis, H., Ilham, M., Su’ud, Z., Waris, A., Irwanto, D. (2020). Neutronic Analysis of Modular Gas-cooled Fast Reactor for 5-25% of Plutonium Fuel using Parallelization MCNP6 Code. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1493 (1), 012008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1493/1/012008
- Syarifah, R. D., Aula, M. H., Arkundato, A., Nugroho, A. T., Jatisukamto, G., Handayani, S. (2023). Design study of 300MWth GFR with UN-PuN fuel using SRAC-COREBN code. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 18 (04), 264–270. https://doi.org/10.59018/022346
- Angelina, T. E., Syarifah, R. D., Widiawati, N., Arkundato, A., Rohman, L., Maulina, W., Purwandari, E. (2024). Neutronic Analysis for The Radial Direction Heterogeneous Core Configuration of GFR with Thorium Fuel. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2734 (1), 012066. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2734/1/012066
- Maulana, M. R., Dewi Syarifah, R., Prasetya, F., Mabruri, A. M., Arkundato, A., Rohman, L. (2024). Comparative Analysis of Hexagonal and Square Fuel Pin Geometry Designs of GFR using Uranium Carbide Fuel. Journal of Energy, Material, and Instrumentation Technology, 5 (3), 109–116. https://doi.org/10.23960/jemit.v5i3.252
- Prasetya, F., Syarifah, R. D., Karomah, I., Aji, I. K., Trianti, N. (2024). A comparative analysis of gas-cooled fast reactor using heterogeneous core configurations with three and five fuel variations. Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, 1 (8 (127)), 6–17. https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2024.298202
- Dewi Syarifah, R., Mabruri, A. M., Hanifah, Z., Prasetya, F., Arkundato, A., Rohman, L., Maulina, W. (2025). Neutronic Investigation of the Fuji-12 MSR Reactor with A Rectangular Core Configuration and Plutonium-Based Fuel. Sains Malaysiana, 54 (6), 1605–1616. https://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2025-5406-15
- Shelley, A., Ovi, M. H. (2021). Use of americium as a burnable absorber for VVER-1200 reactor. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 53 (8), 2454–2463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2021.02.024
- Syarifah, R. D., Su’ud, Z., Basar, K., Irwanto, D. (2020). Actinide Minor Addition on Uranium Plutonium Nitride Fuel for Modular Gas Cooled Fast Reactor. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1493 (1), 012020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1493/1/012020
- Syarifah, R. D., Prasetya, F., Mabruri, A. M., Arkundato, A., Trianti, N. (2024). The Effect of Adding Minor Actinide Fuel Rods on GFR Reactor in Radiopharmaceutical Waste Production Using OpenMC Program. Science and Technology Indonesia, 9 (4), 857–865. https://doi.org/10.26554/sti.2024.9.4.857-865
- Syarifah, R. D., Sari, A. K., Arkundato, A., Irwanto, D., Su’ud, Z. (2022). Neutronics analysis of UN-PuN fuel for 300MW pressurized water reactor using SRAC-COREBN code. EUREKA: Physics and Engineering, 6, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.21303/2461-4262.2022.002247
- Okumura, K., Kugo, T., Kaneko, K., Tsuchihashi, K. (2007). SRAC2006: A comprehensive neutronics calculation code system. Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Available at: https://inis.iaea.org/records/9zdp8-g1z91
- Okumura, K. (2007). COREBN; A Core burn-up calculation module for SRAC2006. https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-data-code-2007-003
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Mila Hidayatul Aula, Ratna Dewi Syarifah, Ahmad Haris Rasidi, Abdulloh Hasan Shodiq, Muhammad Husein Shodiq, Bekti Palupi, Nuri Trianti, Zaki Su’ud
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The consolidation and conditions for the transfer of copyright (identification of authorship) is carried out in the License Agreement. In particular, the authors reserve the right to the authorship of their manuscript and transfer the first publication of this work to the journal under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license. At the same time, they have the right to conclude on their own additional agreements concerning the non-exclusive distribution of the work in the form in which it was published by this journal, but provided that the link to the first publication of the article in this journal is preserved.
A license agreement is a document in which the author warrants that he/she owns all copyright for the work (manuscript, article, etc.).
The authors, signing the License Agreement with TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC, have all rights to the further use of their work, provided that they link to our edition in which the work was published.
According to the terms of the License Agreement, the Publisher TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC does not take away your copyrights and receives permission from the authors to use and dissemination of the publication through the world's scientific resources (own electronic resources, scientometric databases, repositories, libraries, etc.).
In the absence of a signed License Agreement or in the absence of this agreement of identifiers allowing to identify the identity of the author, the editors have no right to work with the manuscript.
It is important to remember that there is another type of agreement between authors and publishers – when copyright is transferred from the authors to the publisher. In this case, the authors lose ownership of their work and may not use it in any way.
