Optimum Discharge Burnup and Cycle Length for PWRs

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Nuclear Technology

OSTI ID:20840287

Secker, Jeffrey R; Johansen, Baard J; Stucker, David L; Ozer, Odelli; Ivanov, Kostadin; Yilmaz, Serkan; Young, E H

This paper discusses the results of a pressurized water reactor fuel management study determining the optimum discharge burnup and cycle length. A comprehensive study was performed considering 12-, 18-, and 24-month fuel cycles over a wide range of discharge burnups. A neutronic study was performed followed by an economic evaluation. The first phase of the study limited the fuel enrichments used in the study to <5 wt% {sup 235}U consistent with constraints today. The second phase extended the range of discharge burnups for 18-month cycles by using fuel enriched in excess of 5 wt%. The neutronic study used state-of-the-art reactor physics methods to accurately determine enrichment requirements. Energy requirements were consistent with today's high capacity factors (>98%) and short (15-day) refueling outages. The economic evaluation method considers various component costs including uranium, conversion, enrichment, fabrication and spent-fuel storage costs as well as the effect of discounting of the revenue stream. The resulting fuel cycle costs as a function of cycle length and discharge burnup are presented and discussed. Fuel costs decline with increasing discharge burnup for all cycle lengths up to the maximum discharge burnup considered. The choice of optimum cycle length depends on assumptions for outage costs.

• OSTI ID: 20840287
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 151; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BURNUP
COST
ENRICHMENT
EVALUATION
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR FUELS
OUTAGES
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR PHYSICS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
STREAMS
URANIUM
URANIUM 235