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Strategies and Considerations for the Back End of the Fuel Cycle

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Strategies and Considerations for the Back End of the Fuel Cycle Nuclear Technology Development and Economics 2021 Strategies and Considerations for the Back end of Fuel Cycle Strategies and Considerations for the Back End of the Fuel Cycle NEA Nuclear Technology Development and Economics Strategies and Considerations for the Back End of the Fuel Cycle © OECD 2021 NEA No. 7469 NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 37 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission takes part in the work of the OECD. OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation’s statistics gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members. This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the member countries of the OECD or its Nuclear Energy Agency. NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was established on 1 February 1958. Current NEA membership consists of 34 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency also take part in the work of the Agency. The mission of the NEA is: – to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally sound and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes; – to provide authoritative assessments and to forge common understandings on key issues as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD analyses in areas such as energy and the sustainable development of low-carbon economies. Specific areas of competence of the NEA include the safety and regulation of nuclear activities, radioactive waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science, economic and technical analyses of the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear law and liability, and public information. The NEA Data Bank provides nuclear data and computer program services for participating countries. This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found online at: www.oecd.org/about/publishing/corrigenda.htm. © OECD 2021 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgement of the OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) [email protected]. Cover photos: Deep geological repository site in Oskarshamn, Sweden (SKB); Fuel reprocessing (Cogema). FOREWORD Foreword A wealth of technical information exists on nuclear fuel cycle options – combinations of nuclear fuel types, reactor types, used or spent nuclear fuel (SNF) treatments, and disposal schemes – and most, if not all, countries with active nuclear power programmes conduct some level of research and development on advanced nuclear fuel cycles. However, perhaps because of the number of options that exist, it is often difficult for policy makers to understand the nature and magnitude of the differences between the various options. In this regard, this report explores the fuel cycle options and the differentiating characteristics of the options, and decision drivers related to both the development of the fuel cycle and the characteristics resulting from implementing the option. This publication has been prepared on the basis of information on the current situation of each country represented in the expert group including the current status and future plans for power reactors, reprocessing facilities, disposal facilities, and the status of research and development activities. This report is designed for policy makers to understand the differences among the fuel cycle options in a way that is concise, understandable, and based on the existing technologies, while keeping technical discussions to a minimum. STRATEGIES AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE BACK END OF THE FUEL CYCLE, NEA No. 7469, © OECD 2021 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements The report reflects the discussions that have taken place, over a two year and a half period since May 2017 and over four meetings of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Expert Group on Back-end Strategies (BEST), chaired by Mr William McCaughey. The list of members of the BEST Expert Group can be found at the end of this report. This report could not have been produced without their valuable contributions, or without the work of all the people who have collected and assembled the necessary information. The NEA also expresses its sincere gratitude to the members of the NEA Committee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle (NDC), and the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) for their valuable comments. 4 STRATEGIES AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE BACK END OF THE FUEL CYCLE, NEA No. 7469, © OECD 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents Abbreviations and acronyms ................................................................................................................ 7 Executive summary ................................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 11 References ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2. Description of fuel cycle options and their characteristics ........................................ 13 2.1. Description of the nuclear fuel cycle options..................................................................... 13 2.2. Differentiating characteristics ............................................................................................. 18 References ....................................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3. Back-end strategies for different countries ................................................................... 35 3.1. Small programmes, phasing out .......................................................................................... 36 3.2. Small programmes, continuing............................................................................................ 36 3.3. Large programmes, no active reprocessing ........................................................................ 37 3.4. Large programmes, active reprocessing ............................................................................. 38 Chapter 4. Decision drivers ................................................................................................................. 41 4.1. Back-end strategy: The IAEA Joint Convention and EU Directive ................................... 41 4.2. Extended storage of spent nuclear fuel .............................................................................. 41 4.3. Country characteristics ......................................................................................................... 42 4.4. Shared infrastructure and international co-operation on used or spent fuel management ........................................................................................................................... 43 References ......................................................................................................................................
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