[en] In this paper, we report our design of high temperature electrolysis plant system and the analysis results. The system efficiency increases with the increase of the steam utilization in the solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) or the decrease of the hydrogen recycle (hydrogen recycle flow to product hydrogen flow) ratio,. The system efficiency is nearly independent of the SOEC operating temperature and pressure, and the air to product O₂ ratio. In this study, the maximum system efficiency is 56.3%. (authors)

[en] Nuclear power plants produce low carbon emissions and stable, low cost electricity. Combined cycle gas-fired power plants are cheap and quick to build and have very flexible operation. If you could combine these two technologies, you could have an ideal base-load power plant. (authors)

[en] A brief overview on the Thorium fuel cycle technology will be described first. Based on the published information, the potential advantages and technical characteristics of the Thorium fuel utilization technologies are described in detail. Special emphasis will be placed on the technological feasibility and maturity of the methods to examine the practicability of their actual implementation in the near future. Then, realistic and possible ways to the deploy of the Thorium fuels utilization are discussed in terms of both value of the implementation and the technological feasibility and practicability. (author)

[en] Major issues of concern related to advanced fast reactor fuel behavior are discussed here with focus on phenomena that are encountered during irradiation of metallic fuel elements. Identification of those issues is part of an advanced fuel simulation effort that aims at improving fuel design and reducing reliance on conventional approach of design by experiment which is both time and resource consuming. (authors)

[en] JNFL have been conducting Active Test with spent fuels at Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (RRP). In Active Test, the evaluation of radioactivity release to the environment (atmosphere and sea) was obtained. (authors)

[en] Conceptual design studies for the liquid-salt cooled Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR) have identified three candidate TRISO fuel geometries: prismatic, pebble, and stringer fuels. This paper presents experimental results from the integral Pebble Recirculation Experiment (PREX) that verifies the viability of pebble recirculation in a Pebble Bed AHTR (PB-AHTR). The experiments conducted include injection and extraction of buoyant pebbles, measurements of packing density and pressure losses, and observations of pebble landing dynamics and bed formation. (authors)

[en] A review of the role and objectives of Partitioning and Transmutation allows pointing out a limited number of well characterized strategies. Moreover, it is possible to show that the choice of the associated partitioning processes and transmutation fuels can also be limited and that a down selection of technologies is possible in order to focus future R and D efforts and resources. (authors)

[en] An analogy was drawn between uranium and thirty five minerals for which the USGS maintains extensive records. The USGS mineral price data, which extends from 1900 to the present, was used to create a simple model describing long term price evolution. Making the assumption that the price of uranium, a geologically unexceptional mineral, will evolve in a manner similar to that of the USGS minerals, the model was used to project its price trend for this century. Based upon the precedent set by the USGS data, there is an 80% likelihood that the price of uranium will decline. Moreover, the most likely scenario would see the equilibrium price of uranium decline by about 40% by mid-century. (authors)

[en] Recent studies indicate that maximized recycling, where more than 95% of the components of spent nuclear fuel are reused, can be economically justified and can reduce the mass of waste products by a substantial amount. The potentially removable and reusable components include the uranium, zirconium from the cladding, structural hardware, certain noble metal fission products, and the transuranic radionuclides. The approach to maximizing recycle and minimizing emissions and wastes should improve public acceptance of nuclear energy. (authors)

[en] Conceptual designing of a high throughput electro-refiner was performed by using basic experimental data and a commercial computational fluid dynamic code, CFX. An electro-refiner concept equipped with a graphite cathode bundle was designed to recover a high purity uranium product continuously without a noble metal contamination. The performance of the process for a decontamination of a noble metal in a uranium product was evaluated as a function of the process parameters such as the rotation speeds of the stirrer and the anode basket. (authors)