Fuel cycle trends

Nuclear Power, Nuclear Fuel Cycle andWaste Management, Part C Status and Trends, 1993. Lanham, MD UNIPUB, 1993. 

AR251 Trends in the nuclear fuel cycle Economic, environmental and social aspects. Nuclear... 

In the subsequent sections, more attention will be given to the considerations affecting the choice of the coolant, moderator, and fuel element design for gas-cooled reactors. Developments in plant equipment will be discussed in greater detail. The choice of the fuel cycle and its effect on economics and the utilization of nuclear resources will be discussed. Finally, future trends in gas-cooled reactor designs will be indicated. 

In the business context, the international trends to more effective uranium utilization, closed fuel cycles with reprocessing and recycle of spent fuel, and more effective and efficient management of spent fuel and reduction of eventual wastes are becoming obvious. These trends require major exporters of nuclear reactors and uranium fuel with international commitments to develop an effective international presence and new technical processes to keep technology relevant and competitive (e.g., as evidenced by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership efforts of the United States). 

A number of engineering and design solutions, based on the generalized experience in construction, commissioning, adjustment works, and the BN-600 plant operation were determined, aimed to improve economics and safety margins. Besides, the next step in the closed fuel cycle realization was to be taken. The main trends of work on improving economical characteristics were assumed to be as follows ... 

Paradoxically, in uranium resources, where many of the major resources are in local ownership in Canada, Kazakhstan, and Australia, we see an opposite trend, with the weapons states fuel cycle companies seeking to expand their positions in resource control because they either never had, or now do not have, large domestic uranium resources. The globalization of the nuclear fuel market will inevitably complicate proliferation control. 

Bini, R., Manciana, E. (1996). Organic Rankine cycle turbogenerators for combined heat and power production from hiomass. Third Munich Discnssion Meeting on Energy Conversion from Biomass Fuels Current Trends and Future Systems, 22-23 October 1996, Munich, Germany. 

Because of the decreasing growth rate in the assumed total demand forecast as shown in Table IV, the part of the fuel cycle expenditures attributed to the increase in inventories tends to decrease as a function of time, which explains the decreasing trend in fuel cycle expenditures as a function of time for all programs in later years even if uranium prices remain constant (bottom of shaded area). If uranium prices increase this decreasing trend will be offset by the increase in fuel cycle expenditures for LWR-only programs. 

Figure 1.1. General trend of the NOx and particulate emissions in Europe, Japan and the U.S. for light- and medium-duty engines (ESC test cycle) and effect of engine tuning on NOx/particulate emissions and fuel consumption. EGR exhaust gas recirculation. ESC test cycle European stationary cycle (http //www.dieselnet.com/standards/cycles/esc.html).

Rotty, R. M., and G. Marland. 1986. Fossil fuel combustion Recent amounts, patterns, and trends of C02. In The Changing Carbon Cycle, a Global Analysis. Ed. J. R. Trabalka and D. E. Reichle, New York Springer-Verlag, pp. 474-90. 

Figure 2 Seasonal and long-term trends in concentrations, and 5 0 values of atmospheric CO2 measured at high latitudes in the northern (Barrow, Alaska) and southern (American Samoa) hemispheres by the NOAA/CMDL-CU flask network (www.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccgg/index.html). The terrestrial biosphere, concentrated in the northern hemisphere, dominants the seasonal cycle. Fossil fuel emission dominates the long-term trends in CO2 and in...

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