Fuel-Cycle Operations

Proliferation. Nuclear-fuel-cycle operations leave open the possibility of improper access to fissile material through theft or diversion. Proliferation can be addressed through near-term measures designed to improve the proliferation-resistance of current nuclear reactor operations and through long-term research to explore proliferation-resistant designs (PC AST, 1999). 

Figure 1.14 Fuel-cycle operations for light-water reactor.

This regulation specifies both nvunerical dose criteria intended to protect the health and safety of the public and numerical radionuclide release criteria intended to protect the environment from the consequences of all normal uranium fuel cycle operations. Both limits are consistent with all of the selection bases and, therefore, are included as top-level regulatory criteria. 

Section 190.10(a) - Annual dose equivalent to a member of the general public from uranium fuel cycle operations (as defined in 190.02) ... 

To secure the assessment of EFR fuel cycle costs, EFRUG requested the major ctHnpanies specialised in nuclear fuel fabrication and reprocessing, BNFL and COGEhlA, to provide up-to-date information on fuel service costs. As for the plant construction, die fuel service cost assessment was requested for the first-off station and for a series unit in a programme of fast reactors to establish a fuel cycle operating under similar industrial conditions as for the PWRs. 

The application of neutrem absorbers for criticality prevention in fuel cycle operations can permit the safe handling of large quantities of material with reduced probability of criticality. If, however, soluble poisons are to be considered as either a primary or secondary means of criticality control, their use must be based on a firm knowledge of the effects of the absorber. 

Reactor refueling occurs between 12 and 24 month intervals, depending on the fuel cycle operation and mission. A transfer cask is used to exchange spent fuel and other core assemblies in the reactor with new assemblies from the fuel service facility. 

Needless to say that uranium originating from the nuclear fuel cycle operations is frequently not of natural isotopic composition. However, there are also variations in the isotopic composition of naturally occurring uranium compounds, as mentioned in Chapter 1, with minute differences in the ratio (Hiess et al. 2012),... 

The THORIMS-NES concept provides for a worldwide deployment of the MSR, such as the FUJI, with all fuel cycle operations being centralized within regional fuel cycle centres (see Fig. XXX-4.). In this, the mass of the transport of fissile material between each MSR and regional centre at one time would be small (much less than one SQ) by virtue of the high conversion ratio of the FUJI MSR. 

Radioactive wastes arise from nuclear fuel cycle operations for the generation of electricity and from other activities in which radioactive materials are used. Ionizing radiation is recognized as a potential hazard to human health, and there is therefore a common concern in all countries that radionuclides from the wastes must not enter the environment in concentrations or quantities that would cause unacceptable health hazards. 

An important principle underlying the planning of high level waste repositories should be that no unacceptable burden is to be inflicted upon future generations. In this regard, the responsibility for disposal should be borne by the society which has derived the direct benefits from the nuclear fuel cycle operations which generated the waste. The design of the waste disposal system should be such as to avoid economic, administrative or other problems after the time when control of die repository is relinquished. 

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