and the need to ensure an acceptable nuclear fuel cycle for future generations of nuclear power plants requires a comprehensive and systematic approach. The peculiar way in which nuclear power came into existence has not made it impossible to develop such an approach for handling spent fuel, and this is the main reason for the problems, which have now accumulated in the fuel cycle. Providing Fissioning Materials for Nuclear Power. The effect of stockpiled reserves and the quantity and quality of wastes on the strategy for selecting fissioning materials is not entirely clear. The forms and types of uranium compounds (oxide, metal, nitride, carbide) and plutonium compounds (oxide, metal, other compounds) which are used for fabricating fuel need to be optimized, and substantiation is needed for the possibility of using thorium (Table 1). The entire list of special raw materials and fissioning materials, which are present in the enterprises of the Ministry of Atomic Energy, includes 127 names. The optimization criteria for choosing various types of fuel and the time periods for putting them into use need to be determined. This requires the development of an integrated database. The priorities in choosing the materials are as follows: – nuclear and radiation safety in manufacturing and handling work (storage, shipment); – maximum reactor safety; – possibility of implementing an efficient technology for handling spent fuel, reducing to a minimum the volumes of wastes and radiation effects on the environment; – fuel-cycle economics; – remaining life of raw material resources (domestic and foreign) and the accessibility of these resources. Optimization calculations substantiating the choice of fissioning materials must take account of these priorities. Constructions of Reactor Fuel Elements and Fuel Assemblies. The structural materials, dimensions, shape, special features of the construction, the burnup specifications, and other properties must take account of the economic aspects of the operation of a nuclear power plant and the handling of spent fuel and wastes (Table 2). The main forms of fissioning materials used in nuclear fuel are as follows: – uranium oxides with different degrees of enrichment; the present cost of uranium obtained by additional enrichment of the hexafluoride from wastes containing 0.25% U, is much lower than in mined uranium; – uranium metal (ADE reactors), uranyl-nitrate alloy, oxides; – mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides (mixed uranium–plutonium fuel); – nitrides (uranium, plutonium, or mixed) obtained from metals or reduced from oxides. The main criteria for selecting the type of fuel are: – the cost of fresh fuel on the domestic and world markets; – the existence of an economically profitable infrastructure for handling such fuel at all stages of its life; – quality, satisfying the customer, cost of the recovered fissioning material after the first and subsequent reprocessing cycles taking account of the handling of radioactive wastes; Atomic Energy, Vol. 89, No. 4, 2000
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Dec 1, 2023
V Yu Blandinsky + 12
Open Access