Environmental benefits of burning spent PWR fuel again in CANDU
- Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst., Taejon (Korea, Republic of). Nuclear Environmental Management Center
On the technical basis that spent PWR fuel contains enough fissile material to be reusable as fuel in CANDU, some environmental benefits that would be anticipated from DUPIC (Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In CANDU) fuel cycle are analyzed in terms of radwaste arisings, spent fuel arisings as well as radiotoxicity of spent fuel to be disposed of. For comparative purpose, the radwaste volume arising from DUPIC fuel cycle is qualitatively compared with that of the thermal recycle consisting of reprocessing and MOX fuel fabrication process. Also the spent fuel arisings and radiotoxicity of DUPIC are assessed in comparison with once-through PWR and CANDU fuel cycles in the case of Korea where both PWRs and CANDUs are being operated. The results show that DUPIC fuel cycle as an in-between alternative both to once-through and reprocessing bears such attractive features as saving of natural uranium resource, producing radwaste significantly less than the thermal recycle, reducing spent fuel arisings to one-third of once-through cycle, etc. From an environmental point of view, the DUPIC fuel cycle may also be a viable alternative for reducing radiotoxicity thus contributing to long-term safety of spent fuel disposal. The calculation as presented in this paper shows that the reduction in total radiotoxicity by burning spent PWR fuel again in CANDU could be as less as an order of magnitude in comparison with once-through cycle.
- OSTI ID:
- 178083
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950917--; ISBN 0-7918-1219-7
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
CANDU TYPE REACTORS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FUEL FABRICATION PLANTS
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
MATERIAL BALANCE
MITIGATION
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RECYCLING
SPENT FUELS
TOXIC MATERIALS
URANIUM RECYCLE