Systems Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

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Systems Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle posted by member150_php on 2/26/2009

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Abstract/Syllabus

Courseware/Lectures

Test/Tutorials

Systems Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Fall 2005

The transmutation of nuclear waste may be a safer and more useful way to dispose of spent nuclear fuel rods. (Image courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory.)

Course Highlights

This course features an extensive set of lecture notes, a complete set of lab materials, and assignments with solutions.

Course Description

This course provides an in-depth technical and policy analysis of various options for the nuclear fuel cycle. Topics include uranium supply, enrichment fuel fabrication, in-core physics and fuel management of uranium, thorium and other fuel types, reprocessing and waste disposal. Also covered are the principles of fuel cycle economics and the applied reactor physics of both contemporary and proposed thermal and fast reactors. Nonproliferation aspects, disposal of excess weapons plutonium, and transmutation of actinides and selected fission products in spent fuel are examined. Several state-of-the-art computer programs are provided for student use in problem sets and term papers.

Syllabus

Description

Grading Policy

Grading criteria.
ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
Homework	30%
Laboratory	20%
Mid-Term Presentation	10%
Term Paper	30%
End of Term Presentation	10%

Calendar

Course calendar.
LEC #	TOPICS	LECTURERS	KEY DATES
1	Noteworthy Aspects and Issues Related to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle	Kazimi
2	The Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle	Kazimi
3	Thermal Considerations in Fuel Cycle Management	Kazimi	Homework 1 due
4	Design Criteria Physics	Pilat
5	Objectives (Output) of Reactor Analysis CALCS	Pilat	Homework 2 due Lab 1 due one day after Lec #5
6	Reactivity and Burnable Poison	Pilat
7	Fuel Cost Calculations How Fuel Cost Raises	Pilat	Homework 3 due
8	Fuel Cycle and Operations Economics	Pilat
9	An Overview of the ACR Design	Pilat	Homework 4 due Lab 2 due one day after Lec #9
10	Fast Reactor Physics and Fuel Management	M. J. Driscoll	Homework 5 due
11	HTGR	Pilat
12	High Level Wastes of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle	Kazimi	Lab 3 due one day after Lec #12
13	High Level Waste 2	Kazimi	Homework 6 due
	Initial Project Presentations	Kazimi, Pilat
	Initial Project Presentations (cont.)	Kazimi, Pilat	Homework 7 due
14	Early Graphite Reactors and the Windscale and Chernobyl Accidents	Pilat	Lab 4 due three days after Lec #14
15	Modeling Fuel Behavior	AR	Homework 8 due
16	Nuclear Non-proliferation	Kazimi
17	Non-proliferation, Safeguards, and Export Controls	M. Bunn
18	Thorium as a Nuclear Fuel	Pilat	Lab 5 due one day after Lec #18
19	Pu Recycle in LWRs	Kazimi
20	Proliferation-resistance (and Terror-resistance) of Nuclear Energy Systems	M. Bunn
21	Nuclear Fuel Design and Manufacturing	G. Dooley	Lab 6 due one day after Lec #21 Term paper
22	Transmutation of Spent Nuclear Fuel	Kazimi
	Term Paper Presentations	Kazimi, Pilat
	Term Paper Presentations (cont.)	Kazimi, Pilat

Readings

This section contains documents that could not be made accessible to screen reader software. A "#" symbol is used to denote such documents.

This section includes the readings by session below.

Assigned Readings

The required course textbook is:

Cochran, R. G., and N. Tsoulfanidis. The Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Analysis and Management. 2nd ed. La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1993. ISBN: 9780894484513.

The following assignments are from the textbook:

Driscoll, M. J., T. J. Downar, and E. E. Pilat. The Linear Reactivity Model for Nuclear Fuel Management. La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1991. ISBN: 9780894480355.

Reading Assignments

Read the preface, and note errata.

Chapter One - Entire chapter, and especially:

Section 1.3.1 and equation 1.7.
Table 1.2 summarizes key analytic results.
Section 2.5 on the effect of leakage.

Chapter Two - Skim through this:

Except to note the discussion on coast down, p. 53-59.

Chapter Three

Sections 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 leading up to equation 3.21 and figure 3.1.
Section 3.9 on Burnable Poison.

Chapter Four - Skim sections 4.1 through 4.3 and; Read section 4.8 on BWR.

Chapter Five - Skim except for:

Table 5.1.
Skip 5.3 onward, except for table 5.6.

Chapter Six - Only read:

Section 6.3 on CANDU.
Section 6.6 on spectral shift and tandem fuel cycle.

Additional References

Cochran, R. G., and N. Tsoulfanidis. "The Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Analysis and Management." American Nuclear Society. 2nd ed. 1999.

Wilson, P. D., ed. "The Nuclear Fuel Cycle: from Ore to Wastes." New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Driscoll, M. J., T. J. Downar, and E. E. Pilat. "The Linear Reactivity Model for Nuclear Fuel Management." American Nuclear Society. 1990.

Graves, H. W., Jr. "Nuclear Fuel Management." New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1979.

Levine, S. H. "Fuel Management." CRC Handbook of Nuclear Reactor Calculations. Edited by Y. Ronan. Vol. 2. 1986.

Benedict, M., T. H. Pigford, and H. W. Levi. Nuclear Chemical Engineering. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Rasmussen, N. C., et al. "Nuclear Waste: Technologies for Separations and Transmutation." National Research Council, 1996.

"Complex Cleanup: The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production." Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress, 1991.

IAEA. "Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Reactor Strategies: Adjusting to New Realities." 1995.

Knief, R. A. "Nuclear Energy Technology." Hemisphere. 2nd ed. 1992.

Marshall, W., ed. "Nuclear Power Technology, Vol. 2 Fuel Cycle." Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1983.

"The Economics of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle." NEA/OECD, 1994.

"Water Reactor Extended Burn-Up Study (WREBUS)." IAEA Technical Report, no. 343, 1992.

Gavrilas, M., P. Hejzlar, N. E. Todreas, and Y. Shatilla. "Safety Features of Operating Light Water Reactors of Western Design." 2nd ed. Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES), 2000.

Deutch, J., E. Moniz, S. Ansolabhere, M. Driscoll, R. Lester, N. Todreas, P. Gray, P. Jaskow, and J. Holden. "The Future of Nuclear Power." MIT 2003.

Readings by Session

Reading notes.
LEC #	READINGS
1	Summary of World Power Reactors and Uranium Requirements Fuel Cycle Unit Costs History of Uranium Prices
3	Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations. "Fuel Safety Criteria Technical Review: Results of OECD/CSNI/PWG2 Task Force on Fuel Safety Criteria." July 21, 2000. NEA/CSNI/R(99)25.
4	Physics Design Criteria (PDF) NRC General Design Criteria Relating to Reactor Physics (PDF) (Courtesy of Nuclear Regulatory Commission.) Relationship of Safety Analyses to Licensing and Tech Specs (PDF) NRC Standard Review Plan for Nuclear Design of LWRs (PDF) (Courtesy of Nuclear Regulatory Commission.)
7	Nuclear Power Economics
8	Fuel Cycle Economics (PDF) (Courtesy of Professor Michael J. Driscoll. Used with permission.)
11	Pilat, Edward. "Modern Graphite Reactors." Lecture notes. Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor Summary (PDF) (Courtesy of General Atomics. Used with permission) Impact of High Burnup on PWR Spent Fuel Characteristics (PDF - 1.2 MB) (Courtesy of the American Nuclear Society. Used with permission. Source: Zhiwen Xu, Mujid S. Kazimi, and Michael J. Driscoll. Nuc Sci and Eng 151 (2005): 261-273. Copyright 2005 by the American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Illinois.)
16	Shea, Thomas E. "Proliferation-Resistant Technologies and IAEA Safeguards." Prepared for the Technical Opportunities for Increasing the Proliferation Resistance of Global Civilian Nuclear Power Systems Workshop. Washington D.C., March 29-30, 2000. Goldschmidt, Pierre. "The IAEA Safeguards System Moves Into the 21st Century." Supplement to the IAEA Bulletin 24, no. 4 (December 1999). Evaluation of the Proliferation Resistant Characteristics of LWR Fuel (PDF) (Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.) Uranium Enrichment (PDF)^#