Role of small lead-cooled fast reactors for international deployment in worldwide sustainable nuclear energy supply.

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2008

OSTI ID:982607

Sienicki, J J; Wade, D C; Moisseytsev, A

Most recently, the global nuclear energy partnership (GNEP) has identified, as one of its key objectives, the development and demonstration of concepts for small and medium-sized reactors (SMRs) that can be globally deployed while assuring a high level of proliferation resistance. Lead-cooled systems offer several key advantages in meeting these goals. The small lead-cooled fast reactor concept known as the small secure transportable autonomous reactor (SSTAR) has been under ongoing development as part of the US advanced nuclear energy systems programs. Meeting future worldwide projected energy demands during this century (e.g., 1000 to 2000 GWe by 2050) in a sustainable manner while maintaining CO2 emissions at or below today's level will require massive deployments of nuclear reactors in non-fuel cycle states as well as fuel cycle states. The projected energy demands of non-fuel cycle states will not be met solely through the deployment of Light Water Reactors (LWRs) in those states without using up the world's resources of fissile material (e.g., known plus speculative virgin uranium resources = 15 million tonnes). The present U.S. policy is focused upon domestic deployment of large-scale LWRs and sodium-cooled fast spectrum Advanced Burner Reactors (ABRs) working in a symbiotic relationship that burns existing fissile material while destroying the actinides which are generated. Other major nuclear nations are carrying out the development and deployment of SFR breeders as witness the planning for SFR breeder deployments in France, Japan, China, India, and Russia. Small (less that 300 MWe) and medium (300 to 700 MWe) size reactors are better suited to the growing economies and infrastructures of many non-fuel cycle states and developing nations. For those deployments, fast reactor converters which are fissile self-sufficient by creating as much fissile material as they consume are preferred to breeders that create more fissile material than they consume. Thus, there is a need for small and medium size fast reactors in non-fuel cycle states operating in a converter mode as well as large sodium-cooled fast breeders in fuel cycle states. Desired attributes for exportable small fast reactors include: proliferation resistance features such as restricted access to fuel; long core life further restricting access by reducing or eliminating the need for refueling; restricted potential to be misused in a breeding mode; fuel form that is unattractive in the safeguards sense; and a conversion ratio of unity to self-generate as much fissile material as is consumed. Desired attributes for exportable small reactor deployments in developing nations and remote sites also include: a small power level to match the smaller demand of towns or sites that are off-grid or on immature local grids; low enough cost to be economically competitive with alternative energy sources available to developing nation customers (e.g. diesel generators in remote locations); readily transported and assembled from transportable modules; simple to operate and highly reliable reducing plant operating staff requirements; as well as high reliability and passive safety reducing the number of accident initiators and need for safety systems as well as reducing the size of the exclusion and emergency planning zones. The Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) has the desired attributes. An example of a small exportable LFR concept is the 20 MWe (45 MWt) Small Secure Transportable Autonomous Reactor (SSTAR) incorporating proliferation resistance, fissile selfsufficiency, autonomous load following, a high degree of passive safety, and supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle energy conversion for high plant efficiency and improved economic competitiveness.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: NE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 982607
• Report Number(s): ANL/NE/CP-58787; TRN: US1005336
• Resource Relation: Conference: ICAPP 2007 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants; May 13, 2007 - May 18, 2007; Nice, France
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
BRAYTON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
CONVERSION RATIO
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY DEMAND
ENERGY SOURCES
FAST REACTORS
FISSILE MATERIALS
FUEL CYCLE
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
POWER
PROLIFERATION
REACTORS
SAFETY
SIZE
VISIBLE RADIATION