Study of advanced fission power reactor development for the United States. Volume I

Technical Report · Fri Jun 25 04:00:00 EDT 1976

OSTI ID:7331250

This volume summarizes the results and conclusions of an assessment of five advanced fission power reactor concepts in the context of potential nuclear power economies developed over the time period 1975 to 2020. The study was based on the premise that the LMFBR program has been determined to be the highest priority fission reactor program and it will proceed essentially as planned. Accepting this fact, the overall objective of the study was to provide evaluations of advanced fission reactor systems for input to evaluating the levels of research and development funding for fission power. Evaluation of the reactor systems included the following categories: (1) power plant performance, (2) fuel resource utilization; (3) fuel-cycle requirements; (4) economics; (5) environmental impact; (6) risk to the public; and (7) R and D requirements to achieve commercial status. The specific major objectives of the study were twofold: (1) to parametrically assess the impact of various reactor types for various levels of power demand through the year 2020 on fissile fuel utilization, economics, and the environment, based on varying but reasonable assumptions on the rates of installation; and (2) to qualitatively assess the practicality of the advanced reactor concepts, and their research and development. The reactor concepts examined were limited to the following: advanced high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) systems including the thorium/U-233 fuel cycle, gas turbine, and binary cycle (BIHTGR); gas-cooled fast breeder reactor (GCFR); molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR); light water breeder reactor (LWBR); and CANDU heavy water reactor (HWR).

• Research Organization: Battelle Columbus Labs., OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7331250
• Report Number(s): BCL-NSF-C-946-2(Vol.1)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210800* -- Nuclear Power Plants-- Economics
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
BREEDER REACTORS
CANDU TYPE REACTORS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ECONOMICS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
GAS COOLED REACTORS
GCFR TYPE REACTORS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
HEAVY WATER MODERATED REACTORS
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
MOLTEN SALT REACTORS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PLANNING
POWER PLANTS
PRESSURE TUBE REACTORS
REACTORS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMAL REACTORS
USA