GEANT4 Studies of the Thorium Fuel Cycle

Thorium fuel has been proposed as an alternative to uranium
fuel in nuclear reactors. New GEANT4 developments
allow the Monte Carlo code to be used for the first time in
order to simulate the time evolution of the concentration of
isotopes present in the Thorium fuel cycle. A full study is
performed in order to optimise the production of Uranium-
233 starting with “pure” Thorium fuels, leading to levels
of Uranium-233 which ensure the operation of the nuclear
reactor in a regime close to criticality.