Abstract
Germany is phasing-out the utilization of nuclear energy until 2022. Currently, nine light water reactors of originally nineteen are still connected to the grid. All power plants generate high-level nuclear waste like spent uranium or mixed uranium-plutonium dioxide fuel which has to be properly managed. Moreover, vitrified high-level waste containing minor actinides, fission products, and traces of plutonium reprocessing loses produced by reprocessing facilities has to be disposed of. In the paper, the assessments of German spent fuel legacy (heavy metal content) and the nuclide composition of this inventory have been done. The methodology used applies advanced nuclear fuel cycle simulation techniques in order to reproduce the operation of the German nuclear power plants from 1969 till 2022. NFCSim code developed by LANL was adopted for this purpose. It was estimated that ~10,300 tonnes of unreprocessed nuclear spent fuel will be generated until the shut-down of the ultimate German reactor. This inventory will contain ~131 tonnes of plutonium, ~21 tonnes of minor actinides, and 440 tonnes of fission products. Apart from this, ca.215 tonnes of vitrified HLW will be present. As fission products and transuranium elements remain radioactive from 104to 106years, the characteristics of spent fuel legacy over this period are estimated, and their impacts on decay storage and final repository are discussed.
Highlights
As a consequence of the accident in Fukushima, nine power plants (PP) of originally 19 are still connected to the grid in Germany. e PP eet with total electrical capacity of about 12 GWe consists of light water reactors: 7 pressurised water reactors (PWRs) and 2 boiling water reactors (BWRs)
All power plants generate high-level nuclear waste like spent uranium or mixed uranium-plutonium dioxide fuel which has to be properly managed
Vitri ed high-level waste containing minor actinides, ssion products, and traces of plutonium reprocessing loses produced by reprocessing facilities has to be disposed of
Summary
All power plants generate high-level nuclear waste like spent uranium or mixed uranium-plutonium dioxide fuel which has to be properly managed. Vitri ed high-level waste containing minor actinides, ssion products, and traces of plutonium reprocessing loses produced by reprocessing facilities has to be disposed of. It was estimated that ∼10,300 tonnes of unreprocessed nuclear spent fuel will be generated until the shut-down of the ultimate German reactor. Is inventory will contain ∼131 tonnes of plutonium, ∼21 tonnes of minor actinides, and 440 tonnes of ssion products. As ssion products and transuranium elements remain radioactive from 104 to 106 years, the characteristics of spent fuel legacy over this period are estimated, and their impacts on decay storage and nal repository are discussed
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