Determination of equivalent plutonium content in MOX fuel assemblies

For the design of a core loaded with mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, it is frequently necessary to determine the plutonium content in an MOX fuel assembly that is equivalent in burnup to a conventional UO{sub 2} fuel assembly. The equivalent plutonium content can be determined experimentally based on the linear reactivity model (LRM) through a number of assembly depletion calculations. In this study, the equivalent total plutonium content in an MOX fuel is correlated with the plutonium isotopic composition, which makes it possible to estimate the equivalent plutonium content without any assembly depletion calculations for a new plutonium with different isotopic compositions.