The United States and the Russian Federation have each agreed to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium that are in surplus of their defence needs. One effective way to do this is to convert the plutonium into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, burn it in a nuclear reactor and produce electricity with it. The Russian Federation intends to use this MOX fuel in both fast (BN-600) and light water (VVER-1000) reactors.
This report describes a benchmark study that compared the results obtained for low-enriched uranium (LEU) and MOX fuel in a VVER-1000. It contributes to the computer code certification process and to the verification of calculation methods used in the Russian Federation.