Nuclear Development 2011 Trends towards Sustainability in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle towards Trends Trends towards Sustainability in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY Nuclear Development ISBN 978-92-64-16810-7 Trends towards Sustainability in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle © OECD 2011 NEA No. 6980 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 34 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, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, 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 on the responsibility of the OECD Secretary-General. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of all member countries. NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was established on 1 February 1958. Current NEA membership consists of 30 OECD member countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission also takes 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 friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as well as – 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 policy analyses in areas such as energy and sustainable development. 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. In these and related tasks, the NEA works in close collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, with which it has a Co-operation Agreement, as well as with other international organisations in the nuclear field. Also available in French under the title: Vers un cycle du combustible nucléaire durable : évolution et tendances This document and any 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/publishing/corrigenda. © OECD 2011 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 acknowledgment 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: UO2 pellets, FBFC manufacturing plant, Romans, France (AREVA, Yann Geoffray); Ulchin nuclear power plant, Republic of Korea; spent fuel storage pool, La Hague, Cherbourg, France (AREVA, Jean-Marie Taillat). FOREWORD Foreword In 2002, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) published a report on Trends in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, in which it examined current and expected changes in the fuel cycle, so as to lay the foundation for applying more quantitative approaches to assessing progress. Since that report, developments have occurred in connection with the development of nuclear energy and the fuel cycle. In particular, Generation IV reactor systems and research and development into fuel cycle concepts, such as partitioning and transmutation, have spurred new thinking. In addition, changes have occurred, and are expected to continue to occur, in approaches to uranium use, reprocessing, recycling and waste disposal. Furthermore, international initiatives have sought to co-ordinate and integrate work related to the fuel cycle, recognising the need to ensure that any such developments do not increase the potential for proliferation. This report assesses trends in the nuclear fuel cycle over the past ten years, for the next ten years and for the longer-term future with a specific focus on considerations of sustainability. As part of that process, a number of criteria that define sustainability have been adopted for use in the comparative assessment. This is necessary since there is no single consensus on the meaning or evaluation of sustainability in the nuclear fuel cycle. In performing the comparative assessment, a review was carried out of the trends towards sustainability that have been driven by changes in technologies and therefore largely stem from industry needs for improved performance and continued demonstration of progress towards economic, safety, environmental and safeguards goals. At the international level, the report considers the global efforts made in relation to the fuel cycle, which have become the dominant mechanism for bringing about major changes in how the fuel cycle is currently implemented. However, there is a limit to what industry can achieve in these areas; so national strategies and policies in a range of representative countries have been examined to see how well, if at all, they have supported the trend towards more sustainable use of nuclear energy. Overall the report identifies a range of improvements that have been evolutionary in nature and then considers the likelihood of more revolutionary changes such as moving towards closed fuel cycles, either partially (plutonium only) or completely (plutonium and minor actinides), and more advanced waste management approaches. The current report forms part of the programme of work of the OECD/NEA Committee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle (NDC) and has been endorsed by that Committee. TRENDS TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY IN THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE, ISBN 978-92-64-16810-7, © OECD 2011 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements This report was produced by an expert group (see list in Annex 1) under the chairmanship of Robert Speranzini from Canada and Hideaki Mineo from Japan, with contributions and support from the NEA Secretariat, Maria Elena Urso and Ron Cameron. Special thanks go to Kevin Hesketh and Robert Speranzini who were the lead authors for Chapters 3 and 4 respectively, and to Stan Gordelier for his consultant support on Chapter 2 and peer review of Chapters 1 to 3. The active participation of the expert group members is gratefully acknowledged. 4 TRENDS TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY IN THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE, ISBN 978-92-64-16810-7, © OECD 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents Executive summary ........................................................................................................................ 9 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 19 1.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 19 1.2. Summary of the previous report ...................................................................................... 20 1.3. International initiatives with a focus on sustainability ................................................ 22 1.4. Sustainability elements for the nuclear fuel cycle ......................................................... 23 2. The nuclear fuel cycle in perspective .................................................................................... 27 2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 27 2.2. World energy and electricity