Use of thorium in fast breeder reactors

Recently several fuel cycles involving thorium have been suggested for use in fast breeder reactors. These cycles involve the use of thorium in fuels containing /sup 233/U and fissile plutonium and the use of both internal and conventional thorium blanket elements. Studies were performed in the Engineering Physics Division at ORNL to determine the performance of fast breeder reactors utilizing such cycles. In addition, there is a current effort toward analyzing reaction rates, spectra, and integral measurements of prototypic fast reactor configurtions involving thorium. These experiments were performed at the PROTEUS facility of the EIR laboratory at Wuerenlingen, Switzerland, and at the Tower Shielding Facility at ORNL. The analysis of these experiments provides insight regarding data needs for fast reactor applications involving the thorium cycle.