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Title: Technology Insights and Perspectives for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Concepts

Abstract

The following report provides a rich resource of information for exploring fuel cycle characteristics. The most noteworthy trends can be traced back to the utilization efficiency of natural uranium resources. By definition, complete uranium utilization occurs only when all of the natural uranium resource can be introduced into the nuclear reactor long enough for all of it to undergo fission. Achieving near complete uranium utilization requires technologies that can achieve full recycle or at least nearly full recycle of the initial natural uranium consumed from the Earth. Greater than 99% of all natural uranium is fertile, and thus is not conducive to fission. This fact requires the fuel cycle to convert large quantities of non-fissile material into fissile transuranics. Step increases in waste benefits are closely related to the step increase in uranium utilization going from non-breeding fuel cycles to breeding fuel cycles. The amount of mass requiring a disposal path is tightly coupled to the quantity of actinides in the waste stream. Complete uranium utilization by definition means that zero (practically, near zero) actinide mass is present in the waste stream. Therefore, fuel cycles with complete (uranium and transuranic) recycle discharge predominately fission products with some actinide process losses.more » Fuel cycles without complete recycle discharge a much more massive waste stream because only a fraction of the initial actinide mass is burned prior to disposal. In a nuclear growth scenario, the relevant acceptable frequency for core damage events in nuclear reactors is inversely proportional to the number of reactors deployed in a fuel cycle. For ten times the reactors in a fleet, it should be expected that the fleet-average core damage frequency be decreased by a factor of ten. The relevant proliferation resistance of a fuel cycle system is enhanced with: decreasing reliance on domestic fuel cycle services, decreasing adaptability for technology misuse, enablement of material accountability, and decreasing material attractiveness.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
DOE - NE
OSTI Identifier:
1004232
Report Number(s):
INL/EXT-10-19977
TRN: US1100945
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC07-05ID14517
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; ACTINIDES; BREEDING; EFFICIENCY; FISSION; FISSION PRODUCTS; FUEL CYCLE; NATURAL URANIUM; NUCLEAR FUELS; PROLIFERATION; REACTORS; URANIUM; WASTES; Core Damage Frequency; Energy Return on Investment; Fuel Cycle; Proliferation Resistance; Radiotoxicity; Uranium Utilization

Citation Formats

Bays, S., Piet, S., Soelberg, N., Lineberry, M., and Dixon, B. Technology Insights and Perspectives for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Concepts. United States: N. p., 2010. Web. doi:10.2172/1004232.
Bays, S., Piet, S., Soelberg, N., Lineberry, M., & Dixon, B. Technology Insights and Perspectives for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Concepts. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1004232
Bays, S., Piet, S., Soelberg, N., Lineberry, M., and Dixon, B. 2010. "Technology Insights and Perspectives for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Concepts". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1004232. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1004232.
@article{osti_1004232,
title = {Technology Insights and Perspectives for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Concepts},
author = {Bays, S. and Piet, S. and Soelberg, N. and Lineberry, M. and Dixon, B.},
abstractNote = {The following report provides a rich resource of information for exploring fuel cycle characteristics. The most noteworthy trends can be traced back to the utilization efficiency of natural uranium resources. By definition, complete uranium utilization occurs only when all of the natural uranium resource can be introduced into the nuclear reactor long enough for all of it to undergo fission. Achieving near complete uranium utilization requires technologies that can achieve full recycle or at least nearly full recycle of the initial natural uranium consumed from the Earth. Greater than 99% of all natural uranium is fertile, and thus is not conducive to fission. This fact requires the fuel cycle to convert large quantities of non-fissile material into fissile transuranics. Step increases in waste benefits are closely related to the step increase in uranium utilization going from non-breeding fuel cycles to breeding fuel cycles. The amount of mass requiring a disposal path is tightly coupled to the quantity of actinides in the waste stream. Complete uranium utilization by definition means that zero (practically, near zero) actinide mass is present in the waste stream. Therefore, fuel cycles with complete (uranium and transuranic) recycle discharge predominately fission products with some actinide process losses. Fuel cycles without complete recycle discharge a much more massive waste stream because only a fraction of the initial actinide mass is burned prior to disposal. In a nuclear growth scenario, the relevant acceptable frequency for core damage events in nuclear reactors is inversely proportional to the number of reactors deployed in a fuel cycle. For ten times the reactors in a fleet, it should be expected that the fleet-average core damage frequency be decreased by a factor of ten. The relevant proliferation resistance of a fuel cycle system is enhanced with: decreasing reliance on domestic fuel cycle services, decreasing adaptability for technology misuse, enablement of material accountability, and decreasing material attractiveness.},
doi = {10.2172/1004232},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1004232}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010},
month = {Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010}
}