Speaker
Description
When transferring to two-component nuclear energy system at the initial stage of closing the nuclear fuel cycle of Russia, the number of fast breeder reactors BN type fuelled with plutonium do exist to a small extent and stocks of separated plutonium already are sizable and continue to grow due to pilot reprocessing SNF of VVER. Therefore, for this period of time, it is proposed to abandon reprocessing the spent fuel from the BN reactors, i.e. to operate in the "open in plutonium" cycle with storage of this spent nuclear fuel. The results of scenario studies show that the amount of plutonium extracted from VVER SNF is sufficient for commissioning and continuing operation of a small series of BN reactors. In addition, it is possible to eliminate a radial reproducing blanket in a fast reactor. According to our estimates, it is worthwhile to start full-scale reprocessing of BN SNF closer to the middle of this century, when we can expect the quantity of BN SNF to be sufficient to reduce significantly the reprocessing unit cost. This approach will reduce the unit fuel cost of electricity production by ~25%, while reducing the total cost of production to 5%.
| Speaker's email address | gulevich@ippe.ru |
|---|---|
| Country/Int. organization | Russian Federation |
| Affiliation/Organization | IPPE JSC |
| Speaker's title | Mr |
