Light water reactors fuel cycles

R. G. Wymer, B. L. Vondra, Technology of the Light Water Reactor Fuel Cycle, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1980... 

Fuel cycles utilizing this method of reprocessing will extend our uranium reserves, decrease the spent fuel storage requirements and decrease the amount of waste requiring storage in a Federal Repository for environmental isolation. AIROX reprocessing is applicable to both light-water reactor fuel cycles as well as fast breeder fuel cycles. 

More recent studies have been related to the fast reactor and light-water reactor fuel cycles. 

Fission energy can be obtained from uranium, using the uranium once-through option and the uranium-plutonium fuel cycle, and from thorium, by the thorium-uranium fuel cycle. Each fuel cycle offers a number of alternative routes with respect to reactor type, reprocessing, and waste handling. Although the uranium based cycles are described with special reference to light water reactors, the cycles also apply to the old uranium fueled gas cooled reactors. 

Attempts at materials diversion from spent fuel would encounter all the challenges discussed above, plus performing the required activities in a high radiation field. The enrichment step could be eliminated by chemically separating out plutonium. However, the isotopic content of the plutonium in the spent fuel is not attractive for weapons use due to the neutronic characteristics of the GT-MHR LEU cycle. The quantity of fissile material (plutonium and uranium) per GT-MHR spent fuel element is low (50 times more volume of spent GT-MHR fuel elements would have to be diverted than spent light water reactor fuel elements to obtain the same quantity of plutonium-239). 

Eig. 8. Cost of electricity (COE) comparison where represents capital charges, Hoperation and maintenance charges, and D fuel charges for the reference cycles. A, steam, light water reactor (LWR), uranium B, steam, conventional furnace, scmbber coal C, gas turbine combined cycle, semiclean hquid D, gas turbine, semiclean Hquid, and advanced cycles E, steam atmospheric fluidized bed, coal E, gas turbine (water-cooled) combined low heating value (LHV) gas G, open cycle MHD coal H, steam, pressurized fluidized bed, coal I, closed cycle helium gas turbine, atmospheric fluidized bed (AEB), coal J, metal vapor topping cycle, pressurized fluidized bed (PEB), coal K, gas turbine (water-cooled) combined, semiclean Hquid L, gas turbine... 

The main technological uses for UO2 are found in the nuclear fuel cycle as the principal component for light and heavy water reactor fuels. Uranium dioxide is also a starting material for the synthesis of UF [10049-14-6] 6 (both critical for the production of pure uranium metal and... 

Wymer, R. G. Vondra, B. L. Eds. Light Water Nuclear Reactor Fuel Cycle CRC Press Boca Raton, Florida, 1981. 

After a peak at 2010, the amount of Pu stored is supposed to start decreasing due to the expected increase in MOX fuel fabrication and its usage in Light Water Reactors (LWRs). Obviously, the utilization of MOX fuel by LWRs would gradually reach a balance in which the fissile Pu in the LWR fuel is ca. 5% of the total fuels. Consequently, the utilization of U resources would not be drastically improved. The ultimate utilization will be attained in the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) fuel cycle, in which a conversion of fertile 238U to 239Pu overwhelms the consumption of the 239Pu. 

Wymer, R.G. Vondra, B.L. Chemical aspects of LWR fuel reprocessing. In Light Water Reactor Nuclear Fuel Cycle CRC Press, Inc. Boca Raton, FL, 1981 77-78. 

Plutonium will very likely play an important role in future power generation by nuclear reactors. Light-water reactors (LWR) already produce and burn Pu future LWR recycle and breeder options will place greater emphasis on Pu fuel cycles in nuclear technologies (2.). As a fuel, Pu is a valuable commodity thus it will be meticulously recovered for reuse, and only a small quantity will likely be released to aquatic and terrestrial environments. 

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

The aqueous raffinate from the first extraction cycle of light-water reactor (LWR) fuel reprocessing has an original volume of up to 5 m /MT of heavy metal. It is concentrated by evaporation, and the residues of the evaporated raffinates from further extraction cycles may be combined with the concentrate. The result of these operations is the HLW concentrate that wiU be transferred to the waste management section of the reprocessing plant. 

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