Economic analysis of fuel recycle

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5096261

Juhn, P E

Economic analysis was performed at KAERI with the assistance of US DOE to compare single reactor fuel cycle costs for a once-through option and a thermal recycle option to operate 1 GWe of a PWR plant for its lifetime. A reference fuel cycle cost was first calculated for each option with best estimated reference input data. Then a sensitivity analysis was performed changing each single value of such fuel cycle component costs as yellow cake price, enrichment charges, spent fuel storage cost, reprocessing cost, spent fuel disposal cost and reprocessing waste disposal cost. Savings due to thermal recycle in requirements of uranium, conversion, and enrichment were examined using formulas suggested by US DOE, while MOX fabrication penalty was accounted for. As a result of the reference fuel cycle cost analysis, it is calculated that the thermal recycle option is marginally more economical than the once-through option. The major factors affecting the comparative costs between thermal recycle and once-through are the costs of reprocessing, spent fuel storage and the difference between spent fuel disposal and reprocessing waste disposal. However, considering the uncertainty in these cost parameters there seems no immediate economic incentive for thermal recycle at the present time.

• Research Organization: Korea Advanced Energy Research Institute, Daejon
• OSTI ID: 5096261
• Report Number(s): CONF-850514-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 49, Suppl. 1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210802* -- Nuclear Power Plants-- Economics-- Fuel Cycle
ASIA
COST
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUEL CYCLE
FUELS
KAERI
KOREAN ORGANIZATIONS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLID FUELS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
SPENT FUELS
STORAGE
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS