Evaluation of proliferation resistance of SMRs with COMPRE methodology assisted by Pu production

Abstract

The proliferation resistance (PR) of several small modular reactors (SMR) is investigated in terms of material characteristic and other extrinsic parameters with COMPRE methodology developed by KINAC. In this work, plutonium (Pu) production amount and isotopic yield are newly introduced as key metrics in material characteristic. Their functionalization is performed with a linear regression method based on sparse core depletion data. Nevertheless, a clear discrepancy is observed in Pu buildup and its quality depending on SMR type and core burnup status. Some of the non-light water SMRs exhibit a higher proliferation concern and their PR score trends are clearly different compared to conventional pressurized water reactors (PWR). Other extrinsic parameters are evaluated based on development status of representative SMRs. At present, liquid metal cooled-fast reactor (LMFR) and molten salt reactor (MSR) receive low scores due to their limited technical maturity in reactor design and related I&C equipment. We conclude that distinct safeguards approaches, suitable for a wide range of SMR designs should be developed for commercial use in the near future.