Demonstration Experiment of 3 BN-600 MOX Vibropac FAs Irradiation for the Excess Weapons Plutonium Disposal

The paper presents results of a demonstration experiment on conversion of 50 kg of weapon-grade plutonium in the form of metal ingots into granulated MOX-fuel to be used for manufacturing fuel pins and 3 fuel assemblies (FAs) for the fast power-generating reactor BN-600, irradiation parameters of these FAs and the data from post-irradiation examinations. It can be concluded from the PIE results that the 3FAs were successfully irradiated in BN-600 without any fuel pin failures. Therefore, disposition of weapongrade plutonium with a weight of about 20 kg was successfully done. This represents the first disposition of Russian surplus weapon-grade plutonium as an international cooperation (this experiment was performed in collaboration between RIAR and JNC). The possibility of using MOX vipac fuel as a method for weapon plutonium disposition is clearly shown.