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Lwr Spent Fuel Management in Germany Xa9846851 M LWR SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT IN GERMANY XA9846851 M. PEEHS SIEMENS AG, KWU BT, Erlangen, Germany Abstract The spent fuel management strategy in the Federal Republic of Germany is based alternatively on interim storage and subsequent reprocessing of spent fuel or on extended storage and direct disposal of spent fuel. By economic and strategic reasons the spent fuel burnup is presently achieving 50 GWd/tHM and will targeting 55 GWd/tHM batch average. Recently the CASTOR V/19 license is issued to store spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) with up to 55 GWd/tU burnup (batch average) for 40 years. The integral pool storage capacity in Germany is 5600 tHM without the necessary full core reserve. The AFR spent fuel storage sites of Ahaus ( 4200 tHM) and Gorleben (3800 tHM) are in operation. The PKA pilot-facility to condition the SFAs is in the final state of erection and alternative approaches for SFAs with a higher burnup and/or MOX fuel are under investigation. The underground exploration of the Gorleben salt dome is in progress. Presently the non heat generating waste is disposed in the former Morsleben salt mine. Licensing of the larger Konrad iron mine for that purpose is under treatment. 1. INTRODUCTION The safe management of waste and/or spent fuel (,,Entsorgung") from nuclear power plants and particularly the orderly disposal of radioactive waste and/or spent fuel are of paramount importance to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The German Federal Government continues to maintain its policy that the safe management of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle is a precondition for the operation of nuclear power plants. The basic principles for waste management are established in the Atomic Energy Act and in the waste management concept of the German Federal Government which gives greater substance to the statutory requirements and the principles of the waste management provisions (,,Entsorgungs- vorsorge") for nuclear power plants. Recently, some modifications in the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle are created with the ,,Artikel-Gesetz" (Energy policy amendments to the Atomic Energy Act). The ,,Artikel Gesetz" allows (see Fig. 1): • to use both strategies such as reprocessing or direct disposal of spent fuel; • that the strategy selection is now with the utilities based upon criteria such as technical availability and economical advantages. The new situation after the release of the ,,Artikel Gesetz" is characterized by: • MOX fuel assembly manufacturing outside Germany in Belgium or France; • reprocessing services provided from France and UK; • open decision between reprocessing and direct disposal. 2. STRATEGIC DECISIONS CONCERNING THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE BACK-END OF THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE In the late 1970s/early 1980s, important strategic decisions concerning the nuclear fuel cycle were taken against a background of high natural uranium prices. Other motivations included earlier plans for a fast breeder program as well as peak burnups attainable at that time for LWR fuel assemblies of slightly over 30 MWd/kgU. In view of these circumstances it is understandable that considerable importance was attached to recovery of the fissile materials still present in spent fuel 33 assemblies through reprocessing, and to the recycling of these materials in fast breeders and light water reactors by using them in the fabrication of MOX fuel assemblies (i.e. fuel assemblies containing mixed uranium/plutonium oxides) and RRU fuel assemblies (i.e. fuel assemblies containing re-enriched recovered uranium). Today's situation, on the other hand, is characterized by relatively low natural uranium prices, large quantities of plutonium and uranium that have been recovered by reprocessing, and the absence of a fast breeder program. Under these conditions, the costs for the back end of the fuel cycle makes up the largest share in the total nuclear fuel cycle costs. Former Situation Atomic Energy Act) New SituatiOr>( Artikel Gesetz / amendement to the Atomic Energy Act) The basic principles are The new, additional "Artikel-Gesetz" based on allows: - Atomic Energy Act - to use both strategies - Principles of Waste - reprocessing Management Provision — direct disposal - that the strategy selection is with Spent Fuel has to be reprocessed the utilities based upon and valuable parts of the fuel has - technical availability to be recycled. Exemtation are — economical advantages only allowed if - this is technical not feasable - this is economical not recommendable - this is to risky Fig. 1. Changes in the German Back End of fuel Cycle Strategy. Fig. 2 illustrates the relative development of fuel cycle costs at current money values for a typical German nuclear power plant. The curves clearly show that, since the beginning of the 1980s, disposal has accounted for a steadily growing proportion of fuel cycle costs, while natural uranium, conversion and enrichment have merely been subject to currency and market fluctuations. The share made up by the cost of manufacturing uranium fuel assemblies has remained virtually constant over the period considered. Nuclear fuel supply and disposal in Germany is characterized by a situation whereby key cost components are assessed in specific terms, i.e. per kg of processed fuel. It thus becomes immediately clear that, apart from the respective specific costs, it is above all the mass of fuel required to generate a given quantity of electric power that has the greatest influence on the total cost. A reduction in the mass of fuel that is in circulation means, in particular, significant savings in disposal costs. The key to any reduction in the mass of fuel in circulation is the fuel assemblies. The most important part of optimizing fuel performance - among others - lies in the possibility for achieving higher burnups, which have an inversely proportional effect on the mass of spent fuel to be disposed of per generated kWh. Advances made in fuel assembly design and manufacture have now made discharge burnups of 55 MWd/kgU - or even more - achievable. Fig. 3 shows the corresponding development in the average discharge burnups of the Siemens reload fuel assemblies most frequently supplied for BWRs and PWRs. It can be concluded from this figure that, from the point in time at which a sharp rise was experienced in specific disposal costs, 34 higher burnups enabled the mass of fuel requiring disposal to be reduced by approximately 28% in the case of PWRs and even by around 42% in the case of BWRs. This also explains how it has been possible to achieve continual reductions in fuel cycle costs per kWh since the mid-1980s, in spite of disposal costs that continue to rise. costs ($/kWh) Spent fuel i management U-FA-fabrication Enrichment Unat + Konversion 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 Fig. 2. Spent Fuel Management has become the dominating Domain of the Fuel Cycle Costs. Average Burnup of Lead Reload (MWd/kgU) 50 Achieved reduction of fuel to be 45 disposed of: ca. 28 % for PWR since 1980 ca. 42 % for BWR since 1983 95 Fig. 3. Burn-up Increase reduces the circulating Fuel Quantity and thus reduces primarily the Spent Fuel Management Costs. 35 3. THE BACK-END OF FUEL CYCLE STRATEGY Fig. 4 exhibits the scheme of the nuclear fuel cycle in Germany. The back end of fuel cycle management concept embraces 3 significant steps: I. Interim storage of spent fuel in the nuclear power plants and in offside interim storage facilities. II. Reprocessing of spent fuel and re-use of the fissile material in the stages: Recovering fissile material from spent fuel (recycling); Interim storage of the separated fission products, first as liquid and later on as vitrified material; Final disposal of the vitrified fission products; or, Direct disposal of spent fuel in the stages: Extended spent fuel storage; Spent fuel storage conditioning for final disposal; Final disposal. III. Disposal of radioactive wastes in the stages: Conditioning; Interim storage at nuclear installations, in offsite facilities or in regional collection centers; Final disposal. External External „ .. c Delivery u"5 Delivery MOX . Mitterteich Waste | Gorleben toraqe Konrad Morsleben in preparation Fig. 4. Nuclear Fuel Cycle in Germany (overview). 4. FUEL PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION AND BACK-END OF THE FUEL CYCLE INTERFACES 4.1. General aspects of U and MOX SFAs with increased burnup For spent U, MOX and RRU fuel assemblies exhibiting higher burnup the feasibility of interim storage prior to direct disposal is of particular importance. Fig. 5 shows the decay heat - an important factor for this route - of a spent U- and of a spent MOX fuel assembly in W/kgHM and an average- 36 burnup of 60 GWd/tHM. In the medium and long term, the decay heat of a MOX fuel assembly is significantly higher than that of a uranium fuel assembly, and exhibits a flatter downward curve. This characteristic behavior of spent MOX fuel assemblies is highly significant for the direct disposal route, as poor choice of storage technologies may lead to very long decay times, both in the fuel pool and in away-from-reactor interim stores. Fig. 6 illustrates the consequences of a burnup increase and/or the use of MOX on the number of required rack positions in a reactor pool. 3 10 - 10 ' -I W/kg W/kg U-FA MoxFA 4.0 w/o U235 4.42 w/o Pufiss in Utai/S (0.25 w/o U235) 1 10 - • 10°- 0 5 10 15 2*0 25 30 3'5 40 4'5 50 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Fig. 5. Decay heat generated from a U and MOX FA after a burnup of 60 GWd/tHM. 55 MWd/kg Each additional year Example: of average cooling time Decay Heat requires about 50 (kW per ass.) rack positions in the pool (PWR1300) MOX-ass.
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