Reassessing methods to close the nuclear fuel cycle

B. Dixon; E. Hoffman; B. Feng; E. Davidson; R. Hays; A. Worrall; J. Hansen; T. Fei; H. Hiruta; J. Peterson-Droogh; F. Ganda; B. Betzler; T. K. Kim; T. Taiwo

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107652

Reassessing methods to close the nuclear fuel cycle

B. Dixon, E. Hoffman, B. Feng, E. Davidson, R. Hays, A. Worrall, J. Hansen, T. Fei, H. Hiruta, J. Peterson-Droogh, F. Ganda, B. Betzler, T. K. Kim, T. Taiwo

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents the major takeaways from studies conducted over several years that were focused on transitioning the U.S. nuclear infrastructure from the current once-through fuel cycle to one in which fuel is continuously recycled in fast reactors. These studies involved simulating and analyzing numerous example scenarios of fuel cycle transition with various assumptions on technology, policy, and material utilization strategies. Among the many findings, perhaps the most important is that under certain conditions, the use of high-assay low-enriched uranium to start up a fleet of fast reactors may be more favorable compared to using recycled Pu from thermal reactors since it is less constrained by other technologies and may even be more economical.

Original language	English
Article number	107652
Journal	Annals of Nuclear Energy
Volume	147
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107652
State	Published - Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy’s Systems Analysis and Integration Campaign. This manuscript has been co-authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725, U Chicago Argonne, LLC, under Contract No. DEAC02-06CH11357, and Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID1451 with the US Department of Energy. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy's Systems Analysis and Integration Campaign. This manuscript has been co-authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725, U Chicago Argonne, LLC, under Contract No. DEAC02-06CH11357, and Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID1451 with the US Department of Energy. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Funders	Funder number
Battelle Energy Alliance	DE-AC07-05ID1451
DOE Public Access Plan
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Nuclear Energy
UT-Battelle	DE-AC05-00OR22725, DEAC02-06CH11357

Keywords

Fuel cycle
Recycling
Transition

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10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107652

Cite this

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title = "Reassessing methods to close the nuclear fuel cycle",

abstract = "This paper presents the major takeaways from studies conducted over several years that were focused on transitioning the U.S. nuclear infrastructure from the current once-through fuel cycle to one in which fuel is continuously recycled in fast reactors. These studies involved simulating and analyzing numerous example scenarios of fuel cycle transition with various assumptions on technology, policy, and material utilization strategies. Among the many findings, perhaps the most important is that under certain conditions, the use of high-assay low-enriched uranium to start up a fleet of fast reactors may be more favorable compared to using recycled Pu from thermal reactors since it is less constrained by other technologies and may even be more economical.",

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Reassessing methods to close the nuclear fuel cycle

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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