Proliferation Resistance Assessment of Different Fuel Cycles in the CANDU System

Abstract

(Th, U)O₂ fuel is regarded as an attractive option for CANDU reactors because of thorium's rich abundance in nature and its favorable neutron economy. This paper compares the proliferation resistance degree of the thorium fuel cycle with that of the natural uranium fuel cycle in CANDU reactor systems, based on the multi-attribute methodology (MAUA) [1] and Figure of Merit (FOM) method [2]. The results show that the proliferation resistance (PR) value changes with the fuel flowing through the whole cycle, from mining to final geological repository. The PR of natural uranium fuel cycle is slightly higher than that of thorium fuel cycle in all processes.