Advanced Burner Reactor Preliminary NEPA Data Study.

Abstract

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) is a new nuclear fuel cycle paradigm with the goals of expanding the use of nuclear power both domestically and internationally, addressing nuclear waste management concerns, and promoting nonproliferation. A key aspect of this program is fast reactor transmutation, in which transuranics recovered from light water reactor spent fuel are to be recycled to create fast reactor transmutation fuels. The benefits of these fuels are to be demonstrated in an Advanced Burner Reactor (ABR), which will provide a representative environment for recycle fuel testing, safety testing, and modern fast reactor design and safeguard features. Because the GNEP programs will require facilities which may have an impact upon the environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for GNEP is being undertaken by Tetra Tech, Inc. The PEIS will include a section on the ABR. In support of the PEIS, the Nuclear Engineering Division of Argonne National Laboratory has been asked to provide a description of the ABR alternative, including graphics, plus estimates of construction and operations data for an ABR plant. The compilation of this information is presented in the remainder of this report. Currently, DOE has started the process of engaging industry on the design of an Advanced Burner Reactor. Therefore, there is no specific, current, vendor-produced ABR design that could be used for this PEIS datacall package. In addition, candidate sites for the ABR vary widely as to available water, geography, etc. Therefore, ANL has based its estimates for construction and operations data largely on generalization of available information from existing plants and from the environmental report assembled for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant (CRBRP) design [CRBRP, 1977]. The CRBRP environmental report was chosen as a resource because it thoroughly documents the extensive evaluation which was performed on the anticipated environmental impacts of that plant. This source can be referenced in the open literature and is publicly available. The CRBRP design was also of a commercial demonstration plant size - 975 MWth - which falls in the middle of the range of ABR plant sizes being considered (250 MWth to 2000 MWth). At the time the project was cancelled, the CRBRP had progressed to the point of having completed the licensing application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and was in the process of receiving NRC approval. Therefore, it was felt that [CRBRP, 1977] provides some of the best available data and information as input to the GNEP PEIS work. CRBRP was not the source of all the information in this document. It is also expected that the CRBRP data will be bounding from the standpoint of commodity usage because fast reactor vendors will develop designs which will focus on commodity and footprint reduction to reduce the overall cost per kilowatt electric compared with the CRBR plant. Other sources used for this datacall information package are explained throughout this document and in Appendix A. In particular, see Table A.1 for a summary of the data sources used to generate the datacall information.