Nuclear fuel cycle optimization using multi-objective stochastic linear programming

Abstract

The share of electricity produced by nuclear power plants is still increasing in many countries. If the head-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, regarding all operations before leaving the reactor, has now reached maturity, many pathways are still possible in the back-end of the cycle, dealing with the spent fuel. The long-term consequences of any decision regarding subjects such as fuel reprocessing, waste disposal, etc., require the use of strategic planning methods, in which provision is made for multiple objectives and for uncertainties. An interactive multicriteria approach using stochastic linear programming is provided by the code Strange, which has already been applied to different energy strategy problems, also outside the nuclear field. The application presented in the paper illustrates the search for a best fuel cycle policy including four criteria: production costs, the supply of raw material, the commercial balance and employment. The concept of scenarios is used to describe future uncertainties.