The optimum economic fuel cycle in the United States for the 21. Century

Conference · Wed Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:23142116

Smith, Robert M. ^[1]; Tulenko, James S. ^[2]

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1. 4715 Boonsboro Road n.42 Lynchburg, VA 24503 (United States)
2. UF Dept. of Nuclear and Radiological Eng., 202 Nuclear Sciences Center, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)

The purpose of this study is to attempt to predict the optimum economic fuel cycle (Once Tom Fuel Cycle) in the United States for the 21. Century. Continuing technical developments are allowing discharge burnups to increase to the range of 50,000 to 60,000 MWD/MTU. Proposed fuel developments could extend discharge burnups even further to the 60,000 to 80,000 MWD/MTU range. This study investigated what cycle length and discharge burnup would be economically optimum in the upcoming decades by examining the effect of varying fuel cost parameters and projecting likely scenarios. The study focused on enrichment cost and outage times because of their importance to the total power cost and their potential to be influenced by technical advances in the coming decades. The objective of this study was to locate the optimum burnup for the 12, 18, 24, and 30 month once thru fuel cycle and then to compare cycle economics to determine the economically optimum cycle length. As we move into the 21. Century with decreased outage times becoming common for longer cycles, our studies show that the 18 month cycle is the most economic. Decreased outage times are shown to increase the optimum burnup for the individual cycle lengths. With projected decreased enrichment (separative work) costs, the longer cycles become more economically attractive. If separative work costs are reduced by as much as 50%, as is projected by some, then the 18 month cycle is optimum, followed by the two year (24 month) cycle. The 30 month cycle occupies third place, making the one year (12 month) cycle least attractive under these conditions. The projected decrease in enrichment (SWU) costs also increases the optimum burnup value within the individual cycles. In conclusion, the economic study shows that, while the 12 month cycle is currently the economically optimum cycle, improved outage management will make the 18 month cycle the favored economic choice. While there are many factors besides economics in choosing a cycle length (e.g. system availability, regulatory, etc.) the economic decision still is a major factor.

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 23142116
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
BURNUP
FUEL CYCLE
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
NUCLEAR FUELS
OUTAGES