Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors (2023) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Background and Study Task
1 Background and Study Task
Pages 15-30
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 15... ...
tasked with focusing on those advanced reactors that could be commercially deployed by 2050 and 1 Resource utilization is typically measured as the amount of natural uranium or thorium fuel used per unit of energy produced by the reactor. Common metrics for evaluating waste generation include the mass, radioactivity, and/or volume of spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste, and/ or low-level waste generated per unit of energy produced by the reactor.
|
From page 16... ...
In its 2021 Strategic Vision, DOE-NE, the sponsor of this study, lists as two of its main goals "enable deployment of advanced nuclear reactors" and "develop advanced nuclear fuel cycles" (DOE-NE, 2021a)
|
From page 17... ...
º Examining the potential costs of the different nuclear fuel cycles required for advanced nuclear reactors. • Evaluate nonproliferation implications and security risks of fuel cycles for advanced reactors by: º Including assessments of high-assay low-enriched uranium, uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel, and advanced fuel cycles that require separating plutonium from spent fuel.
|
From page 18... ...
Because of the vast number of options that exist, the NEA-OECD group found it convenient and easier to understand to reduce the fuel cycles to a basis set of only three: • Open cycle systems (also known as the once-through fuel cycle) use low-enriched uranium in LWRs and dispose of the spent nuclear fuel directly in a deep geologic repository (see Figure 1.1)
|
From page 19... ...
All operational nuclear reactors are supported by a fuel cycle, which includes the activities required to fuel the reactor and manage its spent nuclear fuel upon discharge from the reactor. Figure 1.1 depicts the open, or oncethrough, fuel cycle employed in the United States, with a dashed box around the geologic repository to indicate that none yet exist for spent fuel disposal.
|
From page 20... ...
As depicted in the figure below, spent UOX nuclear fuel discharged from a 1,000-MWe pressurized water reactor after 3 years of operation contains approximately 95 percent 238U, 1 percent 235U, 0.9 percent Pu, 0.1 percent minor actinides, and 3 percent fission products. The most abundant radionuclides in spent nuclear fuel, along with their half-lives, are shown in the table below.
|
From page 21... ...
Dry cask storage has the further advantage of freeing up space in a cooling pool to accommodate freshly discharged spent fuel from the reactor. At present, most wet and dry cask spent fuel storage is carried out at the reactor site pending eventual long-term disposal, likely in a deep-mined geologic repository (BRC, 2012; U.S.
|
From page 22... ...
However, as will be further discussed in the next chapter, several factors -- including technical challenges, nonproliferation violations, nuclear accidents, changes in electricity market conditions, unfavorable economics of reprocessing, and expanded natural uranium resources -- have resulted in abandonment of the plutonium-fueled fast reactor technology option in the United States and many other countries and have limited progress in the few countries that have continued to pursue such a program. Because the United States does not currently have any centralized interim spent fuel storage facilities or reprocessing plants, nor a deep geologic repository for final disposal, spent nuclear fuel remains at nuclear power plant sites, making at-reactor long-term dry storage the de facto endpoint of the current U.S.
|
From page 23... ...
1.4 RELATED NATIONAL ACADEMIES STUDIES The National Academies have published a number of reports on issues related to this study, including advanced nuclear energy (fission and fusion) , spent fuel and high-level waste treatment, nuclear waste management, and nonproliferation.
|
From page 24... ...
Finding that uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing are the primary concerns for producing direct-use materials, the report recommends that (1) countries currently providing nuclear fuel should ensure a stable supply to disincentivize other nations from developing enrichment capabilities and (2)
|
From page 25... ...
This study analyzes technical and societal concerns for the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste (SNF/HLW) in the United States, in the context of federal plans to develop a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain and a commercial interim storage facility in Utah.
|
From page 26... ...
. This 10th and final report in a series of studies on the topic analyzes waste streams and waste form options for electrometallurgically treated EBR-II fuel; evaluates the EBR-II Spent Nuclear Fuel Treatment Demonstration Project on criteria related to process, waste streams, and safety; and recommends postdemonstration activities if the same treatment is used for the remaining spent fuel.
|
From page 27... ...
• The time period for fuel retrievability should be extended to facilitate future implementation of alternative fuel cycle strategies. • The United States should perform "a sustained but modest research and development program" on separation and transmutation technologies for spent fuel and defense waste to improve their cost effectiveness for potential future deployment.
|
From page 28... ...
Beginning with an overview of the global development of nuclear power, including the initial rationale for development of fast breeder reactors, the chapter describes types of nuclear fuel cycles and examines various front- and back-end processes applicable to LWRs, with particular focus on the once-through and monorecycling fuel cycles.9 The chapter also compares national policies related to nuclear fuel cycles, focusing on the experiences and lessons learned of France and the United States, the world's two leading nuclear power producers. Chapter 3 describes the status and outlook for the advanced reactors under development.
|
From page 29... ...
In particular, it examines unique waste streams that would arise from these advanced reactors and their impact on storage, transportation, and geologic disposal. Chapter 6 assesses the nonproliferation and security risks of fuel cycles associated with advanced nuclear reactors compared with the once-through cycle with LWRs.
|
From page 30... ...
policies motivation and United States challenges for deploying this option Chapter 3 proposed use in proposed use in proposed use in proposed use in proposed use in advanced reactors advanced reactors advanced reactors advanced reactors advanced reactors Chapter 4 enrichment, supply fabrication fabrication technical details technical details, options for different chain, cost, safety motivation and reactors and fuel considerations challenges for cycles, technical employing this details, cost estimates, option safety considerations, challenges and potential benefits Chapter 5 storage, storage and U.S. policy for associated waste transportation, and transportation, waste management streams disposal issues considerations for and disposal; geologic disposal associated waste streams for advanced reactors; storage and transportation Chapter 6 nonproliferation nonproliferation nonproliferation nonproliferation nonproliferation nonproliferation nonproliferation implications and implications and implications and implications and implications and implications and implications and security risks security risks security risks security risks security risks security risks security risks NOTE: HALEU = high-assay low-enriched uranium; TRISO = TRistructural ISOtropic.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.