Although the recycling of plutonium as thermal mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in pressurised water reactors (PWRs) is now well-established on a commercial scale, many physics questions remain. The main question addressed in this report is the number of times plutonium can effectively be recycled in a PWR.

This report describes in particular an exercise based on a realistic, multiple-recycle scenario, which followed plutonium through five generations of recycling in a PWR. It considered both a standard PWR design currently in use and a highly moderated design. The latter is a possible option for a dedicated, MOX-fuelled PWR in which it would be possible to optimise the moderation for plutonium. The study of these two designs in parallel has provided a better understanding of their relative merits, as well as insight into the limitations of multiple recycling and the long-term toxicity of fission products and actinides.

Foreword
Contributors
Benchmark Participants
Executive Summary
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Benchmark Specification
Chapter 3. Participants and Methods
Chapter 4. Presentation of Results
Annex to Chapter 4: Energy per Reaction
Chapter 5. Discussion and Interpretation of Results
Chapter 6. Results of the Speical Benchmark on PWR MOX PIN Cells
Annex to Chapter 6 - Specifications of the new benchmark to compare MCNP, WIMS, APPOLLP2, CASM04, and SRAC
Annex to Chapter 6 - Effect of different state-of-the-art nuclear data libraries on the PWR MOX pin cells benchmark of Chapter 6
Chapter 7. Conclusions
Appendix A. Phase II Benchmark Specification
Appendix B. List of Participants
Appendix C. List of Symbols and Abbreviations
Appendix D. Corrigendum for Previous Volumes