Reactor and fuel cycle performance of light water reactor fuel with 235U enrichments above 5%

Burns, Joseph R.; Hernandez, Richard; Terrani, Kurt A.; Nelson, Andrew T.; Brown, Nicholas R.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107423

Cited by 51 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This shows an increase in NU and a decrease in enriched uranium mass are needed to deploy reactors using HALEU. A similar effect was observed by increasing the enrichment of fuel in a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) from 4% to 7% [2], and in a LWR Small Modular Reactor (SMR) of Russian origin [3].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Enrichment dynamics for advanced reactor HALEU support

Bachmann

Fairhurst-Agosta

Richter

et al. 2021

EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol.

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Transitioning to High Assay Low Enriched Uranium-fueled reactors will alter the material requirements of the current nuclear fuel cycle, in terms of the mass of enriched uranium and Separative Work Unit capacity. This work simulates multiple fuel cycle scenarios using Cyclus to compare how the type of the advanced reactor deployed and the energy growth demand affect the material requirements of the transition to High Assay Low Enriched Uranium-fueled reactors. Fuel cycle scenarios considered include the current fleet of Light Water Reactors in the U.S. as well as a no-growth and a 1% growth transition to either the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation Micro Modular Reactor or the X-energy Xe-100 reactor from the current fleet of U.S. Light Water Reactors. This work explored parameters of interest including the number of advanced reactors deployed, the mass of enriched uranium sent to the reactors, and the Separative Work Unit capacity required to enrich natural uranium for the reactors. Deploying Micro Modular Reactors requires a higher average mass and Separative Work Unit capacity than deploying Xe-100 reactors, and a lower enriched uranium mass and a higher Separative Work Unity capacity than required to fuel Light Water Reactors before the transition. Fueling Xe-100 reactors requires less enriched uranium and Separative Work Unit capacity than fueling Light Water Reactors before the transition.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Enrichment dynamics for advanced reactor HALEU support

Bachmann

Fairhurst-Agosta

Richter

et al. 2021

EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol.

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“…In addition, more researchers are also interested in investigating the higher composition of uranium enrichment between 5% to 19.75% called high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) as the advanced nuclear fuel materials. A study done by [16] suggested that the reactor performances and safety analysis of LWRs when using HALEU composition in the fuel concluded that no significant neutronic or reactor safety interruption could be observed, however further exploring the potential of HALEU in LWRs was recommended. Besides, the study also claimed that the waste volume per unit energy generated can be reduced but required 1231 (2022) 012016 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1231/1/012016 4 additional natural resources due to higher enrichment of the 235 U isotopes.…”

Section: Nuclear Fuel Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear fuel materials and its sustainability for low carbon energy system: A review

Azman

Ali

Sarkawi

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng.

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World energy generation for electricity is still dependent on fossil fuels since it is more reliable and secure than the current intermittent renewable energy systems. Although the integration of renewable energy as an energy mix is in progress, still it could not be able to replace fossil fuels. Dependency on fossil fuels will not only contribute to severe climate change but will also degrade future generation quality of life. Hence, the solution to quandary is by integrating nuclear power plants with those of renewable energy such as solar and wind to meet the energy demand and to ensure sustainability of energy source. The current operating nuclear power plants in the world use the concept of water-cooled reactors. It was designed so that the fast neutrons born from fission reactions were slowed down in the moderator to allow other fission reactions events in sustainable chain reactions. Besides, the slow neutrons with low energy is a favourable reactor feature for safe and efficient operation. The common types of nuclear fuel materials in water-cooled reactors are enriched uranium dioxide and natural uranium contained in nuclear fuel elements. After it has been used, the fuel elements will be stored as spent fuel. Prolonged storage of used nuclear fuels will make the volume of nuclear waste high and become hard to manage after a long period of storage. An effort to reprocess the spent fuel as to extract fissile and fertile material to be used in nuclear fuels usually was undertaken to reduce the waste volume. However, this process may lead to an undesirable proliferation of nuclear material. In this review article, research on the advancement of nuclear fuel materials will be discussed based on the reduction method of the nuclear spent fuel volume and radiotoxicity, as well as to study its sustainability for the future low carbon energy system.

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“…Such a fuel specification reduces the amount of residual TRU nuclides in the SNF, thereby reducing TRU-induced radiotoxicity and decay heat. On the other hand, some studies have evaluated various aspects of the post-burnup nuclide composition of SNF and its impact on the fuel cycle when initial uranium enrichment is in the range of HALEU (Ando et al, 2012;Burns et al, 2020). However, these two studies differ from the previous ones in that they both assumed increased discharge burnup with increasing enrichment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fade-out time shortening on radiotoxicity and decay heat using TRU generation reduction fuel

HIRAIWA,

KIMURA,

WADA

et al. 2024

Mechanical Engineering Journal

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We analyzed the possibility of TRU generation reduction fuel using HALEU as the initial enrichment to reduce the radiotoxicity and decay heat of TRU when using the LWR fuels that can suppress radiotoxicity and decay heat in HLW. Fade-out time was defined as the period required to decay to the level of natural uranium ore, focusing on the radiotoxicity, and decay heat up to one million years, which is generated from the reduced TRU generation type fuel (FORSETI) consisting of uranium fuel of HALEU enrichment. The decay characteristics of TRU nuclides in HLW after plutonium removal by reprocessing and the effect of shortening the fade-out time were mainly discussed. The level of 241 Am on both radiotoxicity and decay heat is significant. However, the effect of 239 Pu and 240 Pu, which are produced as daughter nuclides of 243 Am and 244 Cm after reprocessing, significantly lengthens the fade-out time to 100,000 years for radiotoxicity and to 40,000 years for decay heat, compared to several thousand years for 241 Am alone. When TRU generation reduction fuel is adopted, the production rate of 243 Am and 244 Cm is reduced by more than 90% when the enrichment is increased from 3.8 wt% to 20 wt%, and the generation of 239 Pu and 240 Pu as daughter nuclides are also reduced almost correspondingly. As a result, increasing the initial 235 U enrichment from 3.8 wt% to 20 wt% reduces the fade-out time of radiotoxicity from 100,000 to 3,000 years and the fade-out time of decay heat from 40,000 to 2,000 years for HLW, respectively by FORSETI-type TRU generation reduction fuel. As described above, it is shown that using TRU generation reduction fuel can significantly accelerate the decay of TRU radiotoxicity and decay heat in HLW without transmutation of TRU.

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Reactor and fuel cycle performance of light water reactor fuel with 235U enrichments above 5%

Cited by 51 publications

References 46 publications

Enrichment dynamics for advanced reactor HALEU support

Enrichment dynamics for advanced reactor HALEU support

Nuclear fuel materials and its sustainability for low carbon energy system: A review

Fade-out time shortening on radiotoxicity and decay heat using TRU generation reduction fuel

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