No abstract available

[en] Uranium conversion and enrichment are discussed in 5 papers by representatives of the USA, Great Britain and Switzerland. The state of the art is reviewed, and future prospects are given. Supply assurance is directly related to the necessary production capacities and the supply agreements

[en] The company has been dormant since May 1981 when the assets it was administering for the federal government of Canada, the stockpile of uranium concentrates, were transferred to Eldorado Nuclear Limited. Uranium Canada Limited was charged, together with five Canadian uranium producers, under the Combines Investigation Act with conspiring to prevent or lessen competition in Canada of the production, purchase, sale or supply of uranium and other uranium substances. The Supreme Court of Ontario and the Court of Appeal of Ontario declared the corporation immune from prosecution under the act

[en] This report gives a calculation of costs for the handling and final storage of spent nuclear fuel in accordance with the KBS plans. The first report deals with the handling and final storage of vitrified high level waste, while the second deals with the direct disposal of spent nuclear fuel. In both cases, the proposed facilities are designed to handle all the fuel discharged from 13 reactors over a period of 30 years of operation, corresponding to about 9000 metric tons of uranium. In reality, it may be necessary to dispose of waste in accordance with both alternatives. The initial and operating costs have been calculated in 1978 monetary values for each alternative. Reprocessing is assumed to take place abroad, and the costs for this reprocessing are not specified in this report. The costs specified therefore do not reflect the total cost of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, but rather only the cost of the stages studied by KBS. The total costs for the vitrified reprocessing waste alternative have been calculated to be SEK 9000 million, while the total costs for the alternative with direct disposal of unreprocessed spent fuel have been calculated to be SEK 13 500 million. This does not include VAT or costs for the handling and disposal of low- and medium-level waste, nor does it include costs for decommissioning. The cost per produced kWh has been calculated with a real interest rate of 4 per cent, in which case it is about 0.004 SEK/kWh for both alternatives. Cost calculations for facilities that are to be built and operated for such a long period of time as we are concerned with here cannot, for natural reasons, be anything other than approximate. The merit of the present calculation over such a long period of time is also dubious. (G.B.)

[en] A short introduction on the recycle of uranium and plutonium is presented. The uranium world market at present, the prices during the last few years, the actual requirements and those for the years 1978-1983 are given. In a special paragraph the present resources of uranium in Israel as well as the extraction possibilities are discussed. (B.G.)

[en] The paper summarizes the Italian nuclear power station programme, recently approved by the Government, and illustrates the main reasons for the programme, which are in line with those presented at the Geneva Conference in 1971, and which lead to the consideration that nuclear energy is the main source for meeting practically all new electric power requirements in Italy. The implementation of this programme involves considerable nuclear fuel-cycle services, ranging from uranium supply to waste disposal. The industrial strategy to meet these needs is discussed. Technical and economic factors affecting such strategy, both for the fuel cycle as a whole and for its individual phases, are considered. Attention is focused on problems typical of the Italian situation and on various ways of solving them. A prominent feature of the Italian situation is the lack of sizeable domestic uranium resources, which makes it even more important to try, by local industrial efforts, to cover the phases of the cycle subsequent to uranium supply, so as to increase as much as possible the fraction of added value produced inside the country. The present status of the Italian nuclear fuel-cycle industry is reviewed in detail, and its capability of supporting the nuclear programme is analysed. Future development plans are discussed, taking into account the possibility of European co-operation. While the focus is on short- and medium-term programmes, the long-term nuclear programmes are discussed, such as those based on fast breeders, and stress is laid on the need to build up as quickly as possible a strong nuclear fuel-cycle industry. (author)

[en] Summaries of twenty three papers are presented which deal with the following aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. (1) reprocessing, (2) plutonium recycle, (3) economics, (4) uranium resources, and (5) enrichment. (U.S.)

[en] This paper traces the history of the denatured fuel concept and discusses the characteristics of fuel cycles based on the concept. The proliferation resistance of denatured fuel cycles, the reactor types they involve, and the limitations they place on energy generation potential are discussed. The paper concludes with some remarks on the outlook for such cycles

[en] The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Activity Simulator (NUFACTS) is a package of Fortran subroutines which facilitate the simulation of a diversity of nuclear power growth scenarios. An approach to modeling the nuclear fuel cycle has been developed that is highly adaptive and capable of addressing a variety of problems. Being a simulation model rather than an optimization model, NUFACTS mimics the events and processes that are characteristic of the nuclear fuel cycle. This approach enables the model user to grasp the modeling approach rather quickly. Descriptions of the model and its components are provided with several emphases. First, a discussion of the modeling approach and basic assumptions is provided. Next, instructions are provided for generating data, inputting the data properly, and running the code. Finally, detailed descriptions of individual program element are given as an aid to modifying and extending the present capabilities

[en] After the analysis of the natural uranium price, the study presents the world needs; these depend partly on the expanding installed nuclear power and partly on the distribution among the different reactor types. Four different strategies of development of future reactors are considered and the annual uranium needs are determined until 1990. By means of a mathematical model the world natural uranium quantities which can be mined at a minimal price are analyzed. By comparing the demand with the uranium resources one can determine the moment of exhaustion. The annual need of uranium is analyzed as well as the related financial effort. A maximum price is also estimated for which the nuclear energy would be as expensive as the energy from conventional power stations. (A.F.)