Analysis of PT-HWR Used Fuel Management for Once-Through Thorium Fuel Cycles

scenario analysis of pt hwr used fuel management n.w

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Explore the impacts of deploying thorium fuels in Pressure Tube Heavy Water Reactors in a once-through fuel cycle. The analysis focuses on dry storage and deep geological repository management for used fuel. Methodologies, results, and future considerations are discussed.

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Scenario Analysis of PT-HWR Used Fuel Management for Once-Through Thorium Fuel Cycles Daniel Wojtaszek 2ndTechnical Workshop on Fuel Cycle Simulation July 19, 2017 UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -1-

Presentation Outline Objective Pressure Tube Heavy Water Reactor (PT-HWR) Thorium-Uranium Fuel Concepts Analysis Methodology Results Conclusions / Future Work Discussion UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -2-

Objective To analyze some potential impacts on the management of used fuel associated with deploying thorium fuels in PT HWRs in a once through fuel cycle. This analysis is focused on dry storage and the deep geological repository (DGR). UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -3-

Pressure Tube Heavy Water Reactor Heavy water moderated and cooled, High neutron economy Current PT-HWRs are fuelled with natural uranium (NU) Online refuelling Fuel is in the form of cylindrical fuel bundles o (~0.5 m long, ~0.1 m diameter) UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -4-

Thorium-Uranium Fuel Concepts Low-NU Med-SEU+Th Hi-LEU/Th 100% NU Centre element (red): 100% Th Ring elements (green): 98% SEU + 2% Th BU~19.1 MWd/kg Core Mass ~86 MTHE Graphite Centre Element (grey) Ring elements (green): 50% LEU / 50% Th BU~40.6 MWd/kg Core Mass ~60 MTHE BU ~7.1 MWd/kg Core Mass ~86 MTHE SEU: Slightly Enriched Uranium (1.2 wt% 235U/U) LEU: Low Enriched Uranium (5 wt% 235U/U) UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -5-

Analysis Methodology (pt. 1) Fuel Depletion and Decay Calculations (WOBI) Scenario Assumptions PT-HWR Assumptions Installed Capacity: ~13.5 GWe Fleet operation: 2025 - 2085 Reactor Power Fuel Burnup Decay power Core Fuel Mass Thermal efficiency: 33% Capacity Factor: 85% Reactor Lifetime: 30 years Calculate Used Fuel Discharge Annually discharged used fuel (kgHE/year) Core fuel mass discharged at reactor end of life Decay power of used fuel each year after discharge UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -6-

Analysis Methodology (pt. 2) Used Fuel Mass Flow Wet storage duration: 5 years Minimum used fuel age for DGR: 30 years Scenario Assumptions Dry Storage Assumptions (MACSTOR) Reactor Wet storage Dry storage DGR Max number of Fuel bundles/basket: 60 Max decay power/basket: 0.36 kW Max number of Fuel bundles/container: 360 Max decay power/container: 1.3 kW Max number of containers loaded/year: 370 First year of operation: 2060 DGR Assumptions (Canadian Concept) (Spreadsheet) Annually discharged used fuel (kgHE/year) Core fuel mass discharged at reactor end of life Decay power of used fuel Used Fuel Discharge UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -7-

Results: Wet Storage 1.2E+07 MASS OF UNF IN WET STORAGE (KGHE) 1.0E+07 8.0E+06 6.0E+06 4.0E+06 2.0E+06 0.0E+00 2025 2035 2045 2055 2065 2075 2085 YEAR Low-NU Med-SEU+Th Hi-LEU/Th UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -8-

Results: Dry Storage 7.0E+04 NUMBER OF DRY STORAGE BASKETS 6.0E+04 5.0E+04 4.0E+04 3.0E+04 2.0E+04 1.0E+04 0.0E+00 2025 2035 2045 2055 2065 2075 2085 2095 2105 2115 YEAR NU Med-SEU+Th Hi-LEU/Th UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -9-

Results: DGR 1.8E+04 1.6E+04 1.4E+04 NUMBER OF DGR UFCS 1.2E+04 1.0E+04 8.0E+03 6.0E+03 4.0E+03 2.0E+03 0.0E+00 2025 2035 2045 2055 2065 2075 2085 2095 2105 2115 YEAR NU Med-SEU+Th Hi-LEU/Th UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -10-

Conclusions PT-HWRs are a viable existing technology for utilizing thorium- based fuels and uranium-based fuels augmented by small amounts of thorium. Higher-burnup fuels can result in lower wet-storage requirements, but higher dry-storage requirements. Ultimately, higher-burnup SEU+Th and LEU/Th fuels can have lower DGR requirements than NU. UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -11-

Future Work: Multi-Stage Fuel Cycles Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 233U PT-HWR 233U+Th LWR LEU Pu PT-HWR Pu+Th 233U 233U PT-HWR 233U+Th PT-HWR LEU+Th Pu 233U PT-HWR 233U+Th FR Pu+235U+Th LWR LEU Pu UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -12-