Definition of requirements for REMIXand MOX-fuel effective employment for VVER-reactors

Abstract

An important task of the current stage of development of the existing nuclear power system is to find a configuration in which it comes to full self-sufficiency in fuel. A significant share of Russian nuclear power plants at the current stage and in the near future are thermal VVER reactors operating in the open fuel cycle. The first stage of the transition to fuel self-sufficiency can be considered the option of loading these reactors with REMIX and MOX fuel, which will improve the fuel supply indicators. The paper presents a comparison of efficiency indicators presented by the fuel component of the cost and material balance for the scenarios of nuclear power plant development with VVER reactors loaded with classical uranium and REMIX/MOX fuel. The costs of fuel handling stages were considered as variable initial parameters. The calculations were carried out using the STEM-NES software developed at NRC \Kurchatov institute".