scholarly journals Economic Evaluation on the MOX Fuel in the Closed Fuel Cycle

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youqi Zheng ◽  
Hongchun Wu ◽  
Liangzhi Cao ◽  
Shizhuang Jia
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Thermal Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Fuel Cost ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Closed Fuel Cycle ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Mox Fuel ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Current Operating

The mixed oxide (MOX) fuel is one of the most important fuels for the advanced reactors in the future. It is flexible to be applied either in the thermal reactor like pressurized water reactor (PWR) or in the fast reactor (FR). This paper compares the two approaches from the view of fuel cost. Two features are involved. (1) The cost of electricity (COE) is investigated based on the simulation of realistic operation of a practical PWR power plant and a typical fast breeder reactor design. (2) A new economic analysis model is established, considering the discount rate and the revenue of the reprocessed plutonium besides the traditional costs in the processes of fuel cycle. The sensitivity of COE to the changing parameters is also analyzed. The results show that, in the closed fuel cycle, the fuel cost of applying MOX fuels in the FBR is about 25% lower than that in the PWR at the current operating and fuel cycle level.

scholarly journals Study of Minor Actinides Transmutation in PWR MOX Fuel

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengli Chen ◽  
Cenxi Yuan ◽  
Jingxia Wu ◽  
Yaolei Zou
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Minor Actinides ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle ◽  
Mox Fuel ◽  
Management Method

The management of long-lived radionuclides in spent fuel is a key issue to achieve the closed nuclear fuel cycle and the sustainable development of nuclear energy. Partitioning-Transmutation is supposed to treat efficiently the long-lived radionuclides. Accordingly, the study of transmutation for long-lived Minor Actinides (MAs) is a significant work for the post-processing of spent fuel. In the present work, the transmutations in Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Mixed OXide (MOX) fuel are investigated through the Monte Carlo based code RMC. Two kinds of MAs are incorporated homogeneously into two initial concentrations MOX fuel assembly. The results indicate an overall nice efficiency of transmutation in both initial MOX concentrations, especially for two MAs primarily generated in the UOX fuel, 237Np and 241Am. In addition, the inclusion of 237Np has no large influence on other MAs, while the transmutation efficiency of 237Np is excellent. The transmutation of MAs in MOX fuel depletion is expected to be an efficient nuclear spent fuel management method.

Transmutation Study of Minor Actinides in Mixed Oxide Fueled Typical Pressurized Water Reactor Assembly

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengli Chen ◽  
Cenxi Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Mixed Oxide ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Neutron Transport ◽  
Minor Actinides ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Mox Fuel

The management of long-lived radionuclides in spent fuel is a key issue to achieve the closed nuclear fuel cycle and the sustainable development of nuclear energy. The partitioning-transmutation method is supposed to efficiently treat the long-lived radionuclides. Accordingly, the transmutation of long-lived minor actinides (MAs) is significant for the postprocessing of spent fuel. In the present work, the transmutations in pressurized water reactor (PWR) mixed oxide (MOX) fuel are investigated through the Monte Carlo neutron transport method. Two types of MAs are homogeneously incorporated into MOX fuel assembly with different mixing ratios. In addition, two types of design of semihomogeneous loading of 237Np in MOX fuels are studied. The results indicate an overall nice efficiency of transmutation in PWR with MOX fuel, especially for 237Np and 241Am, which are primarily generated in the current uranium oxide fuel. In addition, the transmutation efficiency of 237Np is excellent, while its inclusion has no much influence on other MAs. The flattening of power and burnup are achieved by semihomogeneous loading of MAs. The uncertainties of Monte Carlo method are negligible, while those due to nuclear data change little the conclusions of the transmutation of MAs. The transmutation of MAs in MOX fuel is expected to be an efficient method for spent fuel management.

Development of a Thermal Analysis Model for a Nuclear Spent Fuel Storage Cask and Experimental Verification With Prototype Testing

1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 647-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Y. Hwang ◽  
L. E. Efferding
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Analysis ◽  
Storage Period ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Fuel Assemblies ◽  
Spent Fuel Storage ◽  
Fuel Storage

A thermal analysis evaluation is presented of a nuclear spent fuel dry storage cask designed by the Westinghouse Nuclear Components Division. The cask is designed to provide passive cooling of 24 Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent fuel assemblies for a storage period of at least 20 years at a nuclear utility site (Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation). A comparison is presented between analytical predictions and experimental results for a demonstration cask built by Westinghouse and tested under a joint program with the Department of Energy and Virginia Power Company. Demonstration testing with nuclear spent fuel assemblies was performed on a cask configuration designed to store 24 intact spent fuel assemblies or canisters containing fuel consolidated from 48 assemblies.

scholarly journals Contribution to the study of fission products release from nuclear fuels in severe accident conditions: effect of the pO2 on Cs, Mo and Ba speciation

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Le Gall ◽  
Fabienne Audubert ◽  
Jacques Léchelle ◽  
Yves Pontillon ◽  
Jean-Louis Hazemann
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Potential ◽  
Fission Products ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Mox Fuel ◽  
Chemical Behaviour ◽  
Accident Conditions ◽  
The Impact

The objective of this work is to experimentally investigate the effect of the oxygen potential on the fuel and FP chemical behaviour in conditions representative of a severe accident. More specifically, the speciation of Cs, Mo and Ba is investigated. These three highly reactive FP are among the most abundant elements produced through 235U and 239Pu thermal fission and may have a significant impact on human health and environmental contamination in case of a light water reactor severe accident. This work has set out to contribute to the following three fields: providing experimental data on Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) MOX fuel behaviour submitted to severe accident conditions and related FP speciation; going further in the understanding of FP speciation mechanisms at different stages of a severe accident; developing a method to study volatile FP behaviour, involving the investigation of SIMFuel samples manufactured at low temperature through SPS. In this paper, a focus is made on the impact of the oxygen potential towards the interaction between irradiated MOX fuels and the cladding, the interaction between Mo and Ba under oxidizing conditions and the assessment of the oxygen potential during sintering.

The Effect of MA Transmutation in the PWR on Fuel Cycle

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoyang Yu ◽  
Bin Liu ◽  
Wenxin Zhang ◽  
Jin Cai
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Minor Actinide ◽  
Minor Actinides ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Mcnp Program ◽  
And Control ◽  
Control Rods ◽  
Effective Multiplication

The minor actinides (MA) is important nuclides in the spent fuel which is bad for human ecological environment. Pressurized water reactor (PWR) is the main reactor type at commercial operation around world. It is important to find the appropriate loading patterns when introducing minor actinides to the PWR core. In this paper, we study the effect of MA transmutation in the PWR on fuel cycle. First, we use the MCNP program to simulate the model of PWR and the effective multiplication factor.Then,the MA is introduced into core in different ways and mass to simulate the effective multiplication factor. In conclusion,without considering chemical skim control and control rods, we change the thickness of the MA, until the keff closes to 1, We find that loading minor actinides to burnable poison rods for transmutation is an optimal minor actinide loading pattern.

Research on the Loading Pattern of Reactor Core With MOX Fuel in the First Cycle

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianqi Zhang ◽  
Shihe Yu ◽  
Xinrong Cao
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Reactor Core ◽  
Fuel Utilization ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Loading Pattern ◽  
Mox Fuel ◽  
Initial Cycle ◽  
Calculation Code

In order to research the performance of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) with 1/3 MOX fuel in the initial cycle, this paper serves Qinshan II reactor core as the reference core to design suitable MOX assemblies and study relevant core properties. The analyses documented within use assembly cross section calculation code CASMO-4 and core calculation code SIMULATE-3 studied by Studsvik. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the Qinshan II reactor is capable of complying with the requirement for MOX fuel utilization without significant changes to the design of the plant. Several impacts on key physics parameters and safety analysis assumptions, introduced by MOX, are discussing in the paper.

Advanced Alternatives of VVER-440 Fuel Assembly

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Tomaškovič ◽  
Petr Dařílek ◽  
Radoslav Zajac ◽  
Vladimír Nečas
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Assembly ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Fuel Burn ◽  
Fuel Pin ◽  
Basic Characteristics

The main goals of fuel development for pressurized water reactor are effectiveness and economic efficiency. Both requirements can be achieved by gradual increase of discharged fuel burn-up and prolongation of fuel cycle. The mentioned effects can be reached by optimisation of fuel assembly profiling, fuel enrichment raise, and by parasitic absorption reduction. These methods were used in VVER-440 fuel assembly optimisation, described in this paper. Fuel pin configurations with enrichment limit 5 % and also enlarged one up to 5.95 % U235 were designed. Reduction of parasitic absorption was limited by carcass frame of the assembly. Basic characteristics of the best assembly proposals are presented and effects on equilibrium fuel cycle of VVER-440 reactor are characterized.

A study of the nuclear natural resources utilization in open and closed fuel cycles: nuclear energy a sustainable and renewable source of energy

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Letícia Caroline Gonçalves ◽  
José Rubens Maiorino
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Closed Fuel Cycle ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Renewable Source ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Fuel Cycles ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Breeder Reactors

In this work, the use of natural resources was analyzed using a simplified methodology and assuming calculation conditions close to the real ones, to assess the sustainability of the nuclear source and the efficiency in the use of these resources. For the analysis of open fuel cycles, four reactors were selected, these being the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR), two Generation II reactors commonly used until today, the advanced Generation III reactor AP1000 and the conceptual reactor AP-Th 1000. For closed fuel cycles, the variation of the utilization of the natural resource alongside with the variation of the conversion factor were evaluated, parameterized by the burnup. It was observed that the Generation II reactors use only 1% of the natural resources and, despite technological advances, the Generation III reactor did not show a significant increase in comparison to the former. Although the closed fuel cycle includes recycling the burnt fuel from thermal reactors, it exploits only about 10% of the resources. Major improvements are observed in Fast Breeder Reactors, being able to obtain a use of almost 100% with the increase of the burning and the minimization of losses. Although the feasibility of using thorium as a nuclear fuel has been proven, it would be better used in a closed cycle, as in the self-sustainable Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR), a Generation IV reactor that can transform the nuclear energy in a sustainable and renewable source of energy.

Fuel Cycle Economy of Accident Tolerant Fuel Assemblies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Duoting ◽  
Liu Tong ◽  
Huang Heng
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Assembly ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Cycle Economy ◽  
Fuel Assemblies

Taking the large commercial pressurized water reactor and its mature fuel assembly as reference, this paper has analyzed economic performance of two accident tolerant fuel (ATF) designs based on once-through fuel cycle. The results show that the fuel cycle costs of both AT F designs have grown due to application of BeO powder, which is expensive. In order to reach the same electric cost as that of the referred fuel assembly, burn-up of these two AT F designs should be enhanced to 51323MWd/tU and 52054MWd/tU respectively.

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