Justification of the economic and radiological advantages of a closed nuclear cycle with fast neutron reactors in view of IAEA radiation safety standards and equalization of carcinogenicity of the radioactive waste and natural uranium raw materials

Abstract

Economic and radiological advantages of the closed nuclear fuel cycle with fast neutron reactors in view of radiological equivalence, i.e. the equalization of carcinogenicity of radioactive waste and the natural uranium ore materials are considered in the paper. Potential cancer risks of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from the WWER-1000 reactor and radioactive waste from the BR-1200 reactor generating 1 GW of electric power per year have been estimated. It is assumed that the SNF from WWER-1000 reactor will be sent to 10 or 30-year storage. In the closed nuclear fuel cycle radioactive wastes, the products of SNF reprocessing, consisting of 0.1% of Sr, Cs, Tc, I, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm of their content in SNF and all other radionuclides are disposed. Over a period of 10,000 years, the total radiation detriment from SNF from the WWER-1000 reactor is more than 132 times higher than the radiation detriment from radioactive waste from the BR-1200 reactor. The time of radiological equivalence achievement was evaluated. It is assumed that if WWER-1000 and BR-1000 generate 1 GW of electricity per year, radiological equivalence of carcinogenicity of radioactive waste (BR-1200 reactor) and natural uranium ore material will be achieved in 100 years of radioactive waste storage. The equivalence of carcinogenicity of SNF storage and natural uranium ore materials will be achieved after 15,600 years storage. When disposing of spent fuel from a WWER-1000 reactor without achieving radiological equivalence, socio-economic losses due to excess mortality from cancer are estimated at 129 billion rubles/GW year.