Improved once-through fuel cycles for light water reactors

This paper is being presented at this time to provide preliminary technical and economic data to INFCE for use in comparisons of alternate nuclear systems. Programs to develop improved once-through fuel cycles for the light water reactor are under way in the United States; therefore, the information presented in this report is preliminary and will be updated in the future as it becomes available. In the meantime, the following limitations should be recognized when using the information in this report: 1. The paper quantifies fuel utilization improvements which should be technically feasible in reactors now operating or under construction and indicates the approximate time frame when the necessary development and demonstration could be completed. It does not attempt to estimate the rate at which these improvements would attain acceptance and use by the industry. 2. One particular set of PWR and one particular set of BWR nuclear reactor and fuel design characteristics are used as base cases, from which many of the improvements are estimated. Many plants operating and being built throughout the world of course differ in design features, fuel management schemes, and fuel utilization efficiencies from the base cases used in this paper. The degree of improvement obtainable in these other designs, for each type of change considered, will vary with each design. 3. The changes emphasized here could all be backfitted in existing plants. Other possible improvements are limited by the need to avoid reducing the power output or capacity factor of the plants. New plants could be designed to accommodate such changes without reducing the power output or capacity factor. This could yield greater improvement in fuel utilization than can be obtained in existing plants. This longer range potential has not been examined here