In order to improve the non-proliferation performance of heat pipe cooled micro nuclear reactors and realize the sustainable development of nuclear energy,abundant thorium-based fuel was adopted in this study with the Design A of Idaho National Laboratory(INL)as a reference,and the physical properties of the reactor core in terms of neutron energy spectrum,reactivity coefficients,power distribution and burnup were investigated by using the OpenMC code based on the Monte Carlo method.The results show that compared with UO2 fuel,thorium-plutonium fuel heat pipe cooled nuclear reactor reduces the fuel loading,extends the operation time,and improves fuel conversion ratio.The overall power distribution of the core is non-uniform,but the axial power deviation is small.Moreover,the reactivity feedback coefficient is negative,ensuring inherent safety of the reactor core.The effective delayed neutron fraction is small.This study will provide reference for the application of thorium-plutonium fuel in heat pipe cooled micro nuclear reactors.
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