An assessment of the effect on Olkiluoto repository capacity achievable with advanced fuel cycles

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013

OSTI ID:22264181

Juutilainen, P.; Viitanen, T. ^[1]

---

1. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT (Finland)

Previously a few scenarios have been simulated for transition from thermal to fast reactor fleet in Finland in order to determine how much the transuranic inventory could be reduced with the partitioning and transmutation (P-T) technologies. Those calculations, performed with COSI6 code developed by CEA, are extended in the present study, in which the effect of P-T on the capacity of the planned final disposal repository at Olkiluoto (Finland) is evaluated by taking into account the created fission products and transuranic residuals from the reprocessing operations. The decay heat is assumed to be the most restrictive factor in defining the waste disposal packing density. The repository capacity evaluation of this study is based on the comparison of the decay heats produced by the deposited waste in various scenarios. The reference scenario of this article involves only Light Water Reactors (LWR) in an open fuel cycle. The capacity requirement of the geological repository is estimated in a few closed fuel cycle scenarios, all including actinide transmutation with Fast Reactors (FR). The comparison between the P-T scenarios and reference is based on the decay heat production of the deposited waste. The COSI6 code is used for simulations to provide the repository decay heat curves. Applying the closed fuel cycle would change the disposal concept and schedule, because of which it is not quite straightforward to assess the impact of P-T on the capacity. However, it can be concluded that recycling the transuranic nuclides probably decreases the required volume for the disposal, but thermal dimensioning analysis is needed for more specific conclusions.

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22264181
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
AFTER-HEAT
CEA
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FAST REACTORS
FINLAND
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL CYCLE
INVENTORIES
PACKINGS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REPROCESSING
SIMULATION
TRANSMUTATION
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS