POTENTIAL FUEL-CYCLE COST SAVINGS RESULTING FROM TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE N.S. SAVANNAH REACTOR

Technical Report · Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1962

OSTI ID:4795793

Whitmarsh, C L

Expected cost reductions provided an incentive to investigate the effect on the N. S. Savannah fuel-cycle economics of (1) Zircaloy substitution for stainless steel in the permanent core structure and (2) replacement of pellet fuel elements with vibratory-compacted UO/sub 2/. By taking advantsge of the increased core reactivity lifetime afforded by the Zircaloy substitution, a fuel- cycle cost savings of 26% of the reference core cost was predicted from the calculations, whereas utilization of the Zircaloy effect to reduce core enrichment produced only a 10% cost savings. Use of vibratory-compacted fuel resulted in calculated fuel-cycle cost savings of 4 to 7%. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-16-015915
• OSTI ID: 4795793
• Report Number(s): ORNL-TM-144
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-62
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
BREEDING
BURNUP
COMPACTING
ECONOMICS
ENRICHMENT
FABRICATION
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
LIFETIME
PELLETS
PLANNING
PROPULSION
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
SAVANNAH
SHIPS
STAINLESS STEELS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
VARIATIONS
VIBRATIONS
ZIRCALOY