Abstract
The French 2012–2015 Commission Nationale d'Evaluation Reports emphasize preparation for a transition from Light Water Reactors (LWRs) to Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs). We used the CYCLUS nuclear fuel cycle simulator to explore the feasibility of enabling a French transition to an SFR fleet by using Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF) from other European Union (EU) nations. A CYCLUS simulation captured nuclear power deployment in the EU from 1970 to 2160. In this simulation, France begins its planned transition to SFRs as existing LWRs are decommissioned. These SFRs are fueled with UNF accumulated by other EU nations and reprocessed in France. The impact of reactor lifetime extensions and SFR breeding ratios on time-to-transition were investigated with additional simulations. These simulations demonstrate that France can avoid deployment of additional LWRs by accepting UNF from other EU nations, that lifetime extensions delay time-to-transition, and improved breeding ratios are not particularly impactful.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Progress in Nuclear Energy |
| Volume | 114 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This research is being performed using funding received from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program via NEUP Project 16-10512 : Demand-Driven Cycamore Archetypes ( DE-NE0008567 ). Additionally, early conception of this work was supported by The Program in Arms Control & Domestic and International Security (ACDIS) , an interdisciplinary venture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that facilitates objective research, academics, and outreach about international security issues within the academic and policymaking communities. This research is being performed using funding received from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Energy University Program via NEUP Project 16-10512: Demand-Driven Cycamore Archetypes (DE-NE0008567). Additionally, early conception of this work was supported by The Program in Arms Control & Domestic and International Security (ACDIS), an interdisciplinary venture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that facilitates objective research, academics, and outreach about international security issues within the academic and policymaking communities.The authors would like to thank members of Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles research group (ARFC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in particular Gyu Tae Park, who provided valuable code reviews and proofreading. We also thank our colleagues from the Cyclus community, particularly those in the University of Wisconsin Computational Nuclear Engineering Research Group (CNERG) and the University of South Carolina Energy Research Group: Scopatz (ERGS) who provided collaborative support in the core software, Cyclus, enabling this work although they may not agree with all of the interpretations/conclusions of this paper.
Keywords
- Agent-based
- European union
- Nuclear fuel cycle
- Simulation
- Spent nuclear fuel
- Transition