Evaluation of nuclear fuel cycle scenarios with respect to several parameters important for spent fuel storage

Nuclear fuel cycle scenarios involving several options regarding fresh fuel composition, irradiation time etc., have been evaluated in view of some parameters important for spent fuel storage. Calculations are performed for a pressurized water reactor using MONTEBURNS that couples MCNP4B for neutronic calculations and ORIGEN2 for depletion calculations. Composition of freshly loaded fuel for each fuel cycle is determined for a three-batch fuel management scheme. Effects of fresh fuel composition, burnup, and spent fuel storage time on characteristics of spent fuel such as decay heat, radioactivity and composition are analyzed. Innovative fuel cycle concepts involving different fertile-fissile material combinations such as Th-weapon grade Pu, Th-weapon grade U and Th-reactor grade Pu, or reprocessing options such as AIROX and coprocessing are found to be comparable with regard to the spent fuel characteristics discussed in this study. (author)