The case for treatment Recyling in the US

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The case for treatment Recyling in the US

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Title: The case for treatment Recyling in the US


1
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2
USED NUCLEAR FUEL-- WHAT WILL WE DO WITH IT?
  • Dr. Alan S. Hanson
  • Executive Vice President
  • Technology and Used Fuel Management
  • AREVA NC Inc.
  • alan.hanson_at_areva.com
  • September 11, 2006

3
Accumulation of Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF)
  • Current inventory approx 52,000 MTU
  • Used fuel strategies are critical to the Nuclear
    Industry
  • Ultimate Disposal of commercial and defense waste
    is a Must
  • Recycling is a complementary strategy and should
    be Considered
  • Full appropriation and funding reform is Needed

A sustainable long term solution to managing UNF
is needed in the face of a worldwide expansion of
CO2 free nuclear power
4
LEGAL BASIS FOR BACK-END ACTIVITIES
  • Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended
  • Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982
  • Standard contracts between DOE and utilities
  • Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987
  • Names Yucca Mountain as single site for first
    repository

5
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR BACK-END ACTIVITIES
  • 10 CFR Part 50 reactor pool storage of used fuel
  • 10 CFR Part 72 interim used fuel storage
  • 10 CFR Part 71 used fuel transportation
  • 10 CFR Part 63 used fuel disposal in a repository

6
OPTIONS FOR INTERIM USED FUEL STORAGE
  • Rerack wet pool storage to densify
  • Expand wet pool storage
  • Trans-ship used fuel to other pool
  • Add dry storage casks

7
Projections for Dry Storage Use
  • 2010 2015
  • 20,000 MTU 27,000 MTU
  • 45,000 Assemblies 72,000
    Assemblies
  • 1,200 Casks 1,600 Casks

By 2015 over 40 of the fuel inventory could be
in Dry Storage
8
Increased Reliance on Dry Storage
  • 2006 67 operating reactors have contracted for
    dry storage
  • 2012 93 reactors will likely be contracted for
    dry storage
  • 2015 2000 MTU/year added to dry storage

Secure and reliable cask supply is critical to
the industry as nearly 90 of US reactors will
rely on dry storage for continued operation
9
Concrete Shielded Used Fuel Storage Systems
  • NUHOMS
  • Vertical Concrete System

10
The NUHOMS System
11
Cask Capacity Trend
  • Economics drove casks to higher capacity
  • Balance capacity with shielding and decay heat

32 PWR 68 BWR
24 PWR 52 BWR
Cask Capacity
21 PWR
7 PWR
2005
1985
1995
12
Rising Burn-ups and Heat Loads
  • Decay heat and source terms are driving cask
    designs

13
Thermal Capacity Trend
  • Higher burnups and shorter cooling times are
    pushing the thermal capacity of storage casks
    beyond 40 kW (NUHOMS)

40.8 kW
Cask Thermal Capacity
27 kW
21 kW
7 kW
1985
1995
2005
14
SAFETY ANALYSIS FOR DRY FUEL STORAGE
  • Criticality Control
  • Geometry (spacing, fluxtraps)
  • Fixed neutron absorbers
  • Boron credit or burnup credit
  • Shielding
  • Offsite dose limitations
  • Keep occupational doses ALARA
  • Structural
  • Normal condition drops
  • Accident drops including tipover
  • Thermal
  • Fuel cladding limits
  • Other material limits (AI, Pb, absorbers)
  • Containment
  • Hydrotest welds
  • He leak test final closure
  • Materials Issues
  • Corrosion

15
Used Fuel Licensing Requirements
INCREASING DESIGN STRINGENCY
16
Used Fuel Transportation
  • Licensing under 10 CFR Part 71
  • Harmonized with IAEA Regulations, but with a lag
  • Transport cask licenses good for five years, but
    are renewable
  • Principal design challenge is the hypothetical
    accident sequence
  • 9-meter drop onto unyielding surface with
    orientation for maximum damage
  • Fully engulfing fire at 800C for 30 minutes
  • 1-meter drop onto puncture bar oriented for
    maximum damage
  • 15-meter immersion in water

17
Existing Used Fuel Transport Cask Fleet
  • IF-300 Rail Casks
  • TN-8 and TN-9 Overweight Truck Casks
  • NAC-LWT Legal Weight Truck Cask
  • TN-FSV Legal Weight Truck Cask (licensed for Ft.
    St. Vrain fuel)

In 2008, certification for all but the NAC-LWT
and TN-FSV will expire in accordance with latest
revisions to 10 CFR Part 71.
18
January 2005 3000th cask unloading at La Hague
  • Transporting and unloading used fuel is a routine
    operation performed in Europe

19
Current Used Fuel Issues
  • Regulatory disconnects on criticality control (10
    CFR Part 50.68)
  • Industry is moving to license storage-only
    systems for transportation retroactively
  • Industry desires burnup credit, particularly for
    transportation
  • DOE initiative for TAD canisters. Is it
    realistic?
  • Imposition of disposal criteria on storage and
    transportation
  • Lower capacity, lower heat loads, longer cooling,
    exotic materials
  • Security issues
  • New regulatory requirements for design basis
    threat
  • National Academy of Sciences report concluded
    that used fuel storage is safe
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision requiring
    NRC to consider environmental impacts of
    potential terrorist attacks

20
Waste Disposal
  • NWPA of 1982 committed the Department of Energy
    to begin disposing of spent fuel no later than
    February 28, 1998
  • By this date, not only was no fuel disposed,
    there was no repository, no license application
    for one, and DOE had not even removed any spent
    fuel from a reactor site.
  • Today, more than eight years after the
    contractual date, the previous state of affairs
    remains true. There is not even a schedule for
    the repository.
  • Lack of demonstrated fuel removal from commercial
    reactors threatens the future of nuclear power.
  • A geologic repository will be required no matter
    what configuration is finally adopted for the
    fuel cycle.

21
The Open Cycle Strategy 30 Years Later
  • The open cycle throw away strategy was adopted
    in the US more than a quarter century ago
  • Primarily as a measure perceived to support
    nonproliferation objectives
  • An adequate strategy for a stagnant nuclear power
    industry of the 1980s and 1990s
  • Unintended consequence complicates waste
    disposal

22
Sustaining the Nuclear Renaissance
  • We are witnessing the revival of nuclear power
  • We therefore need to re-examine our
    waste-disposal strategy
  • Do we have an adequate waste-management strategy
    to sustain the renaissance?
  • Does the throw away fuel cycle strategy provide
    a strong enough foundation for the rebirth?

23
Open vs. Closed Cycles
  • Open Cycle

Used UOX Transport
HLW Repository (High Volume)
Mining Conversion Enrichment Fabrication
UOX
--------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
  • Closed Cycle

Conversion Enrichment Fabrication
Mining
UOX
Used Fuel
MOX Fuel
HLW Repository (Low Volume)
HLW transport
Recycled U
Treatment Recycling
24
U.S. Experience with Commercial Reprocessing
  • West Valley , NY
  • Operated by NFS from 1966 to 1972
  • Capacity was 300 MTHM/year
  • High cost to meet new regulatory requirements
    made plant uneconomic
  • US DOE took over site and it is being
    decommissoned today
  • Morris, IL
  • Built by GE
  • Capacity was 300 MTHM/year
  • Tested with U, but found to be technically and
    economically inoperable
  • Facility is mothballed except for the storage
    pool which still contains used fuel
  • Barnwell, SC
  • Built by Allied General Nuclear Services
  • Capacity was 1500 MTHM/year
  • Plant never operated because of regulatory delays
    followed by President Carters ban on commercial
    reprocessing
  • Site has been sold for local development

25
French Experience With Reprocessing
  • La Hague Plant commissioned in 1966
  • Capacity of plant is 1,700 MTHM/year
  • Since initial operation, more than 20,000 MTHM
    have been reprocessed
  • Recovered Pu is stored and then shipped to the
    MELOX facility for fabrication into MOX fuel and
    recycling
  • Fission product and actinide residues are
    vitrified into a highly stable glass form for
    later disposal in a deep geologic repository.

26

More than 20,500 Metric Tons of Spent Fuel
Treated At La Hague
MT treated
As of 1/1/2005
10 863
EDF (France)
5 091
German utilities
2 944
Japanese utilities
659
Swiss utilities
672
Synatom (Belgium)
293
EPZ (Netherlands)
20,500 metric tons treated is the power
generation equivalent of 420,000,000 metric tons
of oil
27
Bush Administration Annouces Global Nuclear
Energy Partnership (GNEP)
  • Expand Domestic Use of Nuclear Power
  • Demonstrate More Proliferation-Resistant
  • Recycling
  • Minimize Nuclear Waste
  • Develop Advanced Burner Reactors
  • Establish Reliable Fuel Services
  • Demonstrate Small-Scale Reactors
  • Develop Enhanced Nuclear Safeguards

28
GNEP
  • GNEP is a welcome attempt to establish a
    long-term vision for the future of nuclear power
  • To be successful, GNEP will require decades of
    research and development as well as major
    government investments
  • Is there something which could be done now to put
    us on the road to implementing the vision?

29
The Case for Treating-Recycling
  • Why the renewed interest in Treating-Recycling?
  • Repository optimization through HLW waste
    reduction
  • Energy Security and Resource conservation
  • Economics (Cost effectiveness)
  • Proliferation-resistance imperative

30
Yucca Mountain Optimization
  • The goal is to optimize repository loading
  • It requires addressing two constraints
  • Physical volume reduction of waste package, and
  • Heat load reduction, due to
  • Actinides for the long term (mostly americium)
  • Fission products for the short term (cesium and
    strontium)


600,000
250,000
120,000


Source Argonne National Laboratory
31
Yucca Mountain Optimization
  • Repository loading curves for early treatment of
    UNF cooled for 3 years

32
Yucca Mountain Optimization
  • This approach also facilitates Safety /
    Radioprotection Demonstration
  • Early treatment minimizes Neptunium build-up in
    final waste
  • Pu-241 (14 years half-life) ? Am-241 (433 years
    half-life ) ? Np-237 (2 million years
    half-life)
  • Vitrified waste form provides long term
    durability

33
Treatment-Recycling Reduces Toxicity
Relative Toxicity
Once-Through
Treatment-Recycling
YEARS
34
Energy Security and Cost Effectiveness
  • Energy Security
  • MOX recycling
  • REPU (Reprocessed Uranium) recycling
  • Up to 30 Uranium savings
  • Cost effectiveness
  • Evolutionary plant design approach
  • Initial design derived from proven technologies
    feedback from commercial experience
  • Continuous improvement / upgrade strategy
  • Minimizes implementation risk

35
COST OF RECYCLING AND ONCE-THROUGH STRATEGIES
COMPARABLE IN A GREENFIELD APPROACH
Especially Given Uncertainty on Yucca Mountain
Costs and Future Uranium Price
Repository costs
Area of relative competitiveness of recyclingand
once-though strategy (in discounted costs)
(2005 / kgHM)
Recycling more competitive (10 cost difference)
Comparableeconomics
Once through more competitive (10 cost
difference)
Recent trends
/- 10 cost range
(2005 / kgU)
(19)
(39)
(58)
(2005 / lb U3O8)
Uranium price
36
Nonproliferation
  • Treatment-Recycling plant characteristics
  • U/Pu co-extraction
  • No separated plutonium
  • Integrated plant
  • In line fabrication of recycled fuel
  • No accumulation
  • Advanced safeguards
  • Just-in-time MOX recycle in reactors
  • Pu use in MOX
  • Destroys about 1/3 of the original Pu
  • Significantly degrades isotopic composition of
    remainder

37
Used MOX Fuel A Non-Proliferation Perspective
  • About 30 of the initial fissile Pu atoms have
    been destroyed
  • Pu isotopic composition of used MOX is not
    amenable for weapons use
  • High content of even-numbered Pu isotopes
    (Pu-238, -240, -242)
  • High spontaneous neutron emission
  • High heat generation rate
  • Used MOX fuel is more self-protecting than used
    UOX fuel
  • Every atom of Pu fissioned reduces the number of
    atoms of U-235 which would otherwise need to be
    enriched

38
Why Start Early ?
  • Stops the accumulation of used UOX fuel in
    interim storage
  • Significantly optimizes Yucca Mountain loading
    (x4)
  • Brings a much needed high level of certainty to
    the US used fuel management program
  • Provides a sustainable foundation for the
    impending nuclear renaissance
  • Other countries will not wait nuclear
    renaissance is marching on, worldwide

39
Summary
  • Today dry fuel storage is being used on a large
    scale in order to deal with used fuel discharges
    and keep nuclear reactors operating
  • This is likely to remain the case for at least
    the foreseeable future 10-15 years
  • A geologic repository will be needed for eventual
    disposal of nuclear waste products, and progress
    toward implementation is needed for public
    acceptance of nuclear power
  • Treatment and recycling may be a valuable
    approach to the back end of the fuel cycle, but
    they will not make a contribution during the near
    term 10-15 years.
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