Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Evaluation to Inform R D Planning written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Evaluation and Screening (E & S) of nuclear fuel cycle options has been conducted in fulfilment of a Charter specified for the study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy. The E & S study used an objective and independently reviewed evaluation process to provide information about the potential benefits and challenges that could strengthen the basis and provide guidance for the research and development(R & D) activities undertaken by the DOE Fuel Cycle Technologies Program Office. Using the nine evaluation criteria specified in the Charter and associated evaluation metrics and processes developed during the E & S study, a screening was conducted of 40 nuclear fuel cycle evaluation groups to provide answers to the questions: (1) Which nuclear fuel cycle system options have the potential for substantial beneficial improvements in nuclear fuel cycle performance, and what aspects of the options make these improvements possible? (2)Which nuclear material management approaches can favorably impact the performance of fuel cycle options? (3)Where would R & D investment be needed to support the set of promising fuel cycle system options and nuclear material management approaches identified above, and what are the technical objectives of associated technologies?
Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-01-05 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options: DOE Needs to Enhance Planning for Technology Assessment and Collaboration with Industry and Other Countries
Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-14 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "More demand for electricity and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions have increased interest in nuclear power, which does not rely on fossil fuels. However, concerns remain about the radioactive spent fuel that nuclear reactors generate. The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a research and development (R&D) plan to select nuclear fuel cycles and technologies, some of which reprocess spent fuel and recycle some nuclear material, such as plutonium. These fuel cycles may help reduce the generation of spent fuel and risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. GAO was asked to review (1) DOE's approach to selecting nuclear fuel cycles and technologies, (2) DOE's efforts to reduce proliferation and terrorism risks, and (3) selected countries' experiences in reprocessing and recycling spent fuel. GAO reviewed DOE's plan and met with officials from DOE, the nuclear industry, and France and the United Kingdom. "
Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More demand for electricity and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions have increased interest in nuclear power, which does not rely on fossil fuels. However, concerns remain about the radioactive spent fuel that nuclear reactors generate. The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a research and development (R & D) plan to select nuclear fuel cycles and technologies, some of which reprocess spent fuel and recycle some nuclear material, such as plutonium. These fuel cycles may help reduce the generation of spent fuel and risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. GAO was asked to review (1) DOE's approach to selecting nuclear fuel cycles and technologies, (2) DOE's efforts to reduce proliferation and terrorism risks, and (3) selected countries' experiences in reprocessing and recycling spent fuel. GAO reviewed DOE's plan and met with officials from DOE, the nuclear industry, and France and the United Kingdom. GAO recommends that DOE revise its plan to include the current readiness levels of fuel cycle technologies and the estimated time and cost to develop them, include a strategy for long-term collaboration with the nuclear industry, and specify how DOE will use international agreements to advance its efforts. GAO also recommends that DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complete a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to avoid duplication and overlap of efforts. DOE agreed with the first three recommendations and did not rule out the future use of a MOU. GAO continues to believe that this formal collaboration mechanism is needed.
Download or read book Evaluation of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Using Systems Engineering written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options CatalogF FY15 Improvements and Additions written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Technology Program sponsors nuclear fuel cycle research and development. As part of its Fuel Cycle Options campaign, the DOE has established the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog. The catalog is intended for use by the Fuel Cycle Technologies Program in planning its research and development activities and disseminating information regarding nuclear energy to interested parties. The purpose of this report is to document the improvements and additions that have been made to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog in the 2015 fiscal year.
Download or read book Completion of Population of and Quality Assurance on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Evaluation and Screening team supporting the Fuel Cycle Technologies Program Office of the United States Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy is conducting an evaluation and screening of a comprehensive set of fuel cycle options. These options have been assigned to one of 40 evaluation groups, each of which has a representative fuel cycle option [Todosow 2013]. A Fuel Cycle Data Package System Datasheet has been prepared for each representative fuel cycle option to ensure that the technical information used in the evaluation is high-quality and traceable [Kim, et al., 2013]. The information contained in the Fuel Cycle Data Packages has been entered into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog at Sandia National Laboratories so that it is accessible by the evaluation and screening team and other interested parties. In addition, an independent team at Savannah River National Laboratory has verified that the information has been entered into the catalog correctly. This report documents that the 40 representative fuel cycle options have been entered into the Catalog, and that the data entered into the catalog for the 40 representative options has been entered correctly.
Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options Catalog Status and Plans written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Options Study Phase II written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Options Study has been conducted for the purpose of evaluating the potential of alternative integrated nuclear fuel cycle options to favorably address the issues associated with a continuing or expanding use of nuclear power in the United States. The study produced information that can be used to inform decisions identifying potential directions for research and development on such fuel cycle options. An integrated nuclear fuel cycle option is defined in this study as including all aspects of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from obtaining natural resources for fuel to the ultimate disposal of used nuclear fuel (UNF) or radioactive wastes. Issues such as nuclear waste management, especially the increasing inventory of used nuclear fuel, the current uncertainty about used fuel disposal, and the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation have contributed to the reluctance to expand the use of nuclear power, even though it is recognized that nuclear power is a safe and reliable method of producing electricity. In this Options Study, current, evolutionary, and revolutionary nuclear energy options were all considered, including the use of uranium and thorium, and both once-through and recycle approaches. Available information has been collected and reviewed in order to evaluate the ability of an option to clearly address the challenges associated with the current implementation and potential expansion of commercial nuclear power in the United States. This Options Study is a comprehensive consideration and review of fuel cycle and technology options, including those for disposal, and is not constrained by any limitations that may be imposed by economics, technical maturity, past policy, or speculated future conditions. This Phase II report is intended to be used in conjunction with the Phase I report, and much information in that report is not repeated here, although some information has been updated to reflect recent developments. The focus in this Options Study was to identify any nuclear fuel cycle technology or option that may result in a significant beneficial impact to the issues as compared to the current U.S. approach of once-through use of nuclear fuel in LWRs or similar reactors followed by direct disposal of UNF. This approach was taken because incremental differences may be difficult to clearly identify and justify due to the large uncertainties that can be associated with the specific causes of the issues. Phase II of this Options Study continued the review of nuclear fuel cycle options that was initiated and documented during Phase I, concentrating on reviewing and summarizing the potential of integrated nuclear fuel cycles. However, based on the reviews of previous studies and available data, it was not always possible to clearly determine sufficiently large differences between the various fuel cycle and technology options for some of the issues or evaluation measures, for example, in cases where only incremental differences with respect to the issues might be achieved regardless of the fuel cycle option or technologies being considered, or where differences were insufficient to clearly rise above the uncertainties.
Download or read book Evaluating Environmental Health and Safety Impacts from Two Nuclear Fuel Cycles written by Bethany L. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Waste Stream Analyses for Nuclear Fuel Cycles written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A high-level study was performed in Fiscal Year 2009 for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) to provide information for a range of nuclear fuel cycle options (Wigeland 2009). At that time, some fuel cycle options could not be adequately evaluated since they were not well defined and lacked sufficient information. As a result, five families of these fuel cycle options are being studied during Fiscal Year 2010 by the Systems Analysis Campaign for the DOE NE Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) program. The quality and completeness of data available to date for the fuel cycle options is insufficient to perform quantitative radioactive waste analyses using recommended metrics. This study has been limited thus far to qualitative analyses of waste streams from the candidate fuel cycle options, because quantitative data for wastes from the front end, fuel fabrication, reactor core structure, and used fuel for these options is generally not yet available.
Download or read book Fuel Cycle Assessment written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Promising Fuel Cycle Options for R D Results Insights and Future Directions written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fuel Cycle Options (FCO) campaign in the U.S. DOE Fuel Cycle Research & Development Program conducted a detailed evaluation and screening of nuclear fuel cycles. The process for this study was described at the 2014 ICAPP meeting. This paper reports on detailed insights and questions from the results of the study. The comprehensive study identified continuous recycle in fast reactors as the most promising option, using either U/Pu or U/TRU recycle, and potentially in combination with thermal reactors, as reported at the ICAPP 2014 meeting. This paper describes the examination of the results in detail that indicated that there was essentially no difference in benefit between U/Pu and U/TRU recycle, prompting questions about the desirability of pursuing the more complex U/TRU approach given that the estimated greater challenges for development and deployment. The results will be reported from the current effort that further explores what, if any, benefits of TRU recycle (minor actinides in addition to plutonium recycle) may be in order to inform decisions on future R & D directions. The study also identified continuous recycle using thorium-based fuel cycles as potentially promising, in either fast or thermal systems, but with lesser benefit. Detailed examination of these results indicated that the lesser benefit was confined to only a few of the evaluation metrics, identifying the conditions under which thorium-based fuel cycles would be promising to pursue. For the most promising fuel cycles, the FCO is also conducting analyses on the potential transition to such fuel cycles to identify the issues, challenges, and the timing for critical decisions that would need to be made to avoid unnecessary delay in deployment, including investigation of issues such as the effects of a temporary lack of plutonium fuel resources or supporting infrastructure. These studies are placed in the context of an overall analysis approach designed to provide comprehensive information to the decision-making process.
Download or read book Internationalization of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle written by Russian Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-01-26 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The so-called nuclear renaissance has increased worldwide interest in nuclear power. This potential growth also has increased, in some quarters, concern that nonproliferation considerations are not being given sufficient attention. In particular, since introduction of many new power reactors will lead to requiring increased uranium enrichment services to provide the reactor fuel, the proliferation risk of adding enrichment facilities in countries that do not have them now led to proposals to provide the needed fuel without requiring indigenous enrichment facilities. Similar concerns exist for reprocessing facilities. Internationalization of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle summarizes key issues and analyses of the topic, offers some criteria for evaluating options, and makes findings and recommendations to help the United States, the Russian Federation, and the international community reduce proliferation and other risks, as nuclear power is used more widely. This book is intended for all those who are concerned about the need for assuring fuel for new reactors and at the same time limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. This audience includes the United States and Russia, other nations that currently supply nuclear material and technology, many other countries contemplating starting or growing nuclear power programs, and the international organizations that support the safe, secure functioning of the international nuclear fuel cycle, most prominently the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Download or read book International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation written by International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation. Conference and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Development and Application of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Simulators for Evaluating Potential Fuel Cycle Options written by Jennifer Lynn Littell and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening Study was chartered by the DOE in order to weigh the relative benefits and challenges of potential future fuel cycle options. In order to efficiently implement these alternative fuel cycles, the transition from the current once-through cycle to the most promising of these potential fuel cycles must also be analyzed. This analysis requires the use of fuel cycle simulators which have the capability to quickly calculate the mass flows between numerous facilities over hundreds of years. In this work, Cyclus and ORION have both been utilized to simulate transitions from the current once-through fuel cycle to one which involves fast reactors with continuous reprocessing of spent fuel. This transition was found to take approximately 140 years while staying within the constraints of maintaining the mass of excess plutonium in storage below 100 tonnes, introducing fast reactors gradually in the first years, and waiting until 2050 to begin reprocessing. Before completing this transition analysis, Cyclus was also used to create a handful of less sophisticated simulations in order to demonstrate its range of capabilities. In addition to using Cyclus to contribute to the Evaluation and Screening Study, this work contains the beginning of an ORIGEN-based repository of modules for use with Cyclus. This repository, called CyBORG, incorporates ORIGEN's isotopic depletion and decay calculations directly into Cyclus. The first module added to CyBORG is a reactor facility which uses ORIGEN to calculate its spent fuel isotopics based on reactor specifications from the user such as assembly type, fresh fuel recipe, and power capacity. By creating problem-specific cross section libraries for the depletion calculations, combined with ORIGEN's capability to track more than 2000 isotopes, accurate spent fuel isotopics can be created which will reflect how any changes to the system affect the availability of fissile material.
Download or read book The Economics of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle written by OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and published by Nuclear Energy Agency, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ; Washington, D.C. : OECD Publications and Information Centre. This book was released on 1994 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
