IMPACT OF A PROGRESSIVE DEPLOYMENT OF FAST REACTORS IN A PWR FLEET Christine Chabert, Anne Saturnin CEA Cadarache, DEN/DER AIEA TECHNICAL MEETING, Advanced Fuel Cycles for Waste Burden Minimization June 21 th 24 th, 2016, Vienna (Austria) CEA/DEN/CAD/DEC L. PARET Proposition pour PAGE 1 CODEN / 17 novembre 2014
INTRODUCTION Studies related to the French Act for nuclear waste management They were carried out in tight connection with GENIV systems development 2008-2012 Minor Actinide Transmutation scenarios Collaboration with EDF and AREVA Comparison under various criteria: inventories, capacity of facilities, fuel transportation requirements, and including the management of waste (waste volume, repository footprint, ) Collaboration with Andra for studies on waste disposal Report on Sustainable Radiaoctive Waste Management, December 2012, CEA website Since 2013 Plutonium Multirecycling scenarios Continuation of the collaboration with EDF and AREVA Assumptions chosen to be consistent with industrial constraints Comparison under various criteria including the management of waste CEA Report in June 2015 PAGE 2
PLUTONIUM MULTIRECYCLING SCENARIOS PAGE 3
INTRODUCTION We consider a progressive implementation of FRs technology through successive phases: each phase involves the more significant deployment of fast reactors with its own growth objective. These phases can be summarised as follows: Phase A: Once-through recycling in PWRs Phase B: Recycling of spent MOX fuel Phase C: Stabilisation of the Pu inventory Phase D: Independence with respect to natural uranium. A phase 0 : hypothetical French fleet having operated in an open-cycle configuration only. D: Independence from natural uranium Increased Deployment of FR C: no used fuel inventory build up B: no used UOX nor LWR MOX accumulation A: no used UOX accumulation 0: Open cycle Few important assumptions o The nuclear energy production remains steady at its current level, about 430TWhe/y o The starting point is the actual situation (with 58 PWR) o A lifespan of 60 years for future reactors (PWR and FR) o A lifespan of 50 years for the fuel cycle plants (La Hague/Melox facilities renewal near 2040) o For the FR fleet, the CFV core concept (low sodium void effect) (CEA) is considered (1GWe and 1,45GWe) PAGE 4
PHASE A RECYCLING ONCE IN PWR MOX (CURRENT FRENCH SITUATION) PWR -ERU URT ERU used fuel storage PWR -UOX TR1 Pu PWR - MOX UOX used fuel storage PRINCIPLE: - UOX fuels are reprocessed as they are produced - All of the plutonium recovered during reprocessing is recycled as MOX fuel (30% in PWRs) - Uranium recovered from reprocessing is enriched and recycled (known as ERU fuel) in PWRs - Interim storage of used ERU and MOX fuels - Stabilization of UOX spent fuel inventory Fleet for Phase A 24 UOX PWR (36,7GWe) 11 PWRs with 30% MOX (16,8GWe) 3 PWRs with 100% ERU (4,6GWe) MOX used fuel storage Reprocessing plant (hydrometallurgy process): 820 tons UOX per year Manufacturing: 83 tons MOX per year 75 tons ERU per year PAGE 5
PHASE B RECYCLING OF SPENT MOX FUEL PWR - ERU PWR - UOX TR1 URT Spent UOX fuels storage PWR - MOX Pu Spent ERU fuels storage TR2 Pu Spent MOX fuels storage FR Spent FR fuels storage Unit power of fast reactors :1000MWe First of a kind of a Gen IV industrial-scale FRs in France (power level between the ASTRID prototype power and the expected fully mature industrial-scale reactor power of 1450 Mwe) PRINCIPLE: - Use the Pu contained in spent PWR MOX fuels, by deploying a limited number of fast reactors # 3GWe Treatment of PWR MOX at the same pace they are produced this makes it possible to stabilise the interim storage of spent MOX fuels - Spent fast reactor fuels are not recycled (Spent FR fuels storage) - Recycling of U in PWR ERU and interim storage for spent PWR ERU Characteristic fleet ( 410 TWhe/year) 22 UOX PWR (33,7GWe) 10 PWRs with 30% MOX (15,3GWe) 3 PWRs with 100% ERU (4,6GWe) 3 FR (3GWe) Reprocessing plant (hydrometallurgy process) with two types of fuel to be considered: 750 tons UOX per year and 75 tons MOX per year Manufacturing: 75 tons ERU and MOX per year and 26 tons FR-MOX per year PAGE 6
PHASE C STABILISATION OF THE PU INVENTORY Implementation of Pu multi-recycling in a fleet comprising PWRs and FRs and treatment of used SFR Pu is produced by UOX-PWRs before it is consumed in MOX-PWRs, with the fast reactors ensuring the correction of its isotopic composition to enable its recycling in MOX-PWRs The performance of FRs could be adapted to make them slight net producers of plutonium (breeding gain of about 0.2), with the isotopic quality of plutonium therefore being easier to rectify (to be acceptable for PWRs) PWR-UOX TR1 PWR-MOX TR2 FR TR3 Characteristic fleet ( 420 TWhe/year) 19 PWRs with 30% MOX (29,1GWe) 3 PWRs with 100% MOX (4,8GWe) 16 FR (23,2GWe) About 40% of FR in the fleet - The implementation of phase C will necessarily require fuel cycle plants that employ the appropriate technologies for manufacturing and treating the required quantities of FR fuels (about 270t/year) PAGE 7
PHASE D INDEPENDENCE FROM NATURAL U Phase D aims at eliminating any need for natural uranium to supply the nuclear power fleet. Like in the previous phase, it also aims at stabilising the Pu inventories The objective of gaining independence with respect to natural uranium requires that the only fuel be a plutonium-based fuel (PWR-MOX or FR-MOX), with the addition of depleted uranium which can also come from URT stocks or result from the reprocessing of ERU fuels Option D1 Option D2 Necessarily breeders to compensate PWR-MOX Pu consumption FR TR PWR-MOX TR FR 41 Fast Reactors 1450MWe 28 Fast breeder Reactors 1450MWe 10 PWR with 100% MOX Reprocessing plant : 480 t/y FR-MOX Reprocessing plant : 255 t/y PWR-MOX and 475 t/y FR-MOX PAGE 8
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS FOR EACH PHASES Phase 0 Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase D1 Phase D2 Fraction of FRs Unat consumption Pu flow in cycle Pu inventory (t/year) MA inventory (t/year) 0% 0% 5% 40% 100% 75% 7600 t/y 6300 t/y 5800 t/y 2700 t/y 0 0-9 t/y 12 t/y 50 t/y 75 t/y +10,5 +7,4 +7,1 Stabilized Stabilized Stabilized +2,5 +3,2 +3,1 +3,6 +2,2 +3,3 The transition from phase A through to phase D improves - at each phase - the quantities which are characteristic of the sustainable management of materials Each phase makes its possible to improve the industrial maturity of the fast reactors whose integration into phase B remains very minor (5% of the fleet) PAGE 9
PU INVENTORY 3000 2500 OPEN CYCLE Pu inventory (tons) 2000 1500 1000 STAGE A STAGE A-B STAGE A-B-C-D1 500 0 B C D1 0 50 100 150 200 250 Time Stages C and D Stabilization of the plutonium inventory PAGE 10
THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE PAGE 11
THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE : ILW-LL AND HLW PAGE 12
WASTE PRODUCTION m 3 /TWh A B C D1 D2 Open cycle ILW-LL Intermediate-level long-lived waste HLW High-level waste 0.56 0.57 1.16 1.30 1.30 0.07 0.78 0.82 1.08 0.78 1.10 8.4 Spent fuel 1.2 1.1 0 MOX+ERU fuel ERU+FR-MOX fuel All the Pu present in spent fuels is used, no spent fuel storage required ILW-LL - Increased production with sodium fast reactors deployment (fast reactor structural material and metal components in the core) - Sodium fast reactor fuels contain boron carbide (neutron-absorbing material): upper neutron shielding (280 kg/t HM) + control rods - Boron carbide management not decided today HLW Production relatively stable whatever the option A, B and D1 PAGE 13
REPOSITORY FOOTPRINT Hypothesis: interim storage 80 years m 2 /TWh A B C D1 D2 HLW footprint Intermediate-level long-lived waste Spent fuels potential additional footprint 90 120 230 140 230 MOX: 200 ERU: 40 FR-MOX: 120 ERU: 40 - - - Global potential footprint 330 280 230 140 230
MINOR ACTINIDE TRANSMUTATION SCENARIOS PAGE 15
SCENARIOS INVESTIGATED Among the scenarios considering the deployment of SFRs, several differentiated options have been selected: -Recycling of plutonium only (F4) -Recycling of plutonium and transmutation of all or part of minor actinides in homogeneous mode - Of all minor actinides (Np+Am+Cm) (F2A) - Of americium only (F2B) -Recycling of plutonium and transmutation of all or part of minor actinides in heterogeneous mode in bearing radial blankets - Of all minor actinides (Np+Am+Cm) (F1G) - Of americium only (F1J) 100,0% % of total nuclear energy 66,7% 33,3% EPR SFR Current park 0,0% 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080 2100 2120 2140 Time (years)
INVENTORIES AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MATERIAL AND WASTE THE MAIN RESULTS AT EQUILIBRIUM TRANSMUTATION OF ALL MINOR ACTINIDES : In Homogeneous mode, a content of ~ 1,2 % MA in the fuels; all the reactors of the system are involved In Heterogeneous mode, one row of radial blankets containing 20% of MA in 75% of the reactors of the system TRANSMUTATION OF AMERICIUM ALONE : In Homogeneous mode, a content of ~ 0,8 % MA in the entire reactor system In Heterogeneous mode, 1 row of radial blankets containing 10% of Am in all the reactors of the system
INVENTORIES AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MATERIAL AND WASTE Inventory of total Pu Inventory of total MA 1800 1600 Masse de Pu (tonnes) 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 F4 - RNR Pu F25 - cycle ouvert 0 2010 2030 2050 2070 2090 2110 2130 2150 Année Masse d'am (tonnes) 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 Inventaire global en actinides mineurs (tonnes) F4 - RNR Pu F1G - RNR CCAM F1J - RNR CCAm F2A - RNR Pu+AM F2B - RNR Pu+Am F7 - RNR Pu + ADS No transmutation With Transmutation The deployment of SFR is possible Stabilization of the Pu inventory 50 0 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100 2110 2120 2130 2140 2150 Année Scenarios with partitioning-transmutation : - Stabilization of the total inventory if transmutation of all MA - Reduction of MA in the waste - But the MA inventory within the cycle increases (60 to 160 tons)
EVALUATION OF WASTE PACKAGES The number of waste packages expected has been calculated for each of three scenario. - The quantities are similar from one scenario to the next. - The annual waste flows appear to be of the same order of magnitude as those expected for Andra s industrial geological repository project Cigéo. - This makes it possible to pursue the current Cigéo project options in terms of infrastructures and operating tools Cigéo project has been developped for current waste from existing NPPs. It will not accomodate the waste which might be produced by future NPP fleets.
IMPACT ON THE GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL [ANDRA] Compared to the multi-recycling of Pu in SFR, the transmutation of MA associated with the design optimization of the repository, provides for the entire duration of the scenarios (2040-2150) : A reduction of factor 7,5 (only Am) to 10 (all MA) of the area covered by the disposal of high-level glass stored over 120 years; Thus, transmutation would reduce the disposal footprint of high-level glass from 1200 hectares to 160 hectares (only Am) to 120 hectares (all MA). A reduction of factor 3 of the total repository footprint, A reduction of factor 2 of the overall excavated volume. HLW area : 1200 ha (1) HLW area : 120 ha(/ 10) No transmutation (120 years) Transmutation AM (120 years)
CONCLUSIONS PLUTONIUM MULTIRECYCLING IN FAST REACTORS - A progressive deployment of generation IV reactors - A «step by step» approach - Stabilization of the interim storage of spent PWR MOX fuel (Stage B # 3GWe of SFR) - Stabilization of the Pu inventory (Stages C and D) - Independance from natural uranium (Stage D) - Increases the quantites of ILW-LL - Nearly identical HLW production - Reduces the quantity of spent fuels with no use MINOR ACTINIDE TRANSMUTATION SCENARIOS - Decreases of a factor 10 of the HLW disposal footprint - Increases the MA inventory in the cycle - More specific difficulties and uncertainties for curium transmutation This programme is being continued in close collaboration with our industrial partners, Areva and EDF PAGE 21
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION PAGE 22 16 JUIN 2016 Commissariat à l énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives Centre de Cadarache 13 108 Saint-paul-lez-Durance T. +33 (0)1 04 42 25 37 92 F. +33 (0)1 04 42 25 31 30 Etablissement public à caractère industriel et commercial RCS Paris B 775 685 019 DEN CAD DER DIR