Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle

IPCS-NIAS Workshop for Young Scholars May 2015

L V Krishnan

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The lure of nuclear energy Compared to the energy released by burning of 1 atom of carbon 1 molecule of TNT yields 250 times more 1 uranium atom emits a million times more Fission of 1 uranium atom 50 million times more One 15 kT warhead = 1 MW electrical power for one whole year Uranium fission produces No carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxides or sulphur But produces radioactive products that are a source of fear

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Pu

Mining

Fuel Fab

Reactor

SNF Repro

Enrichment

Nat U

LEU

DU

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle

HLW / SNF

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Total Uranium mined (>2.7 Million Te)

Subjected to Enrichment (>1.8 Million Te)

Nat U/LEU HEU Production DU Generation

Used in Reactors Weapons Grade For reuse/disposal

375,000 Te 1,500 Te 1.8 Million Te

Civil Pu Mil Pu World Warhead Production

260 Te 250 Te 120,000 4

Power Reactors Research Reactors Propulsion Reactors

Built 632 747 700

Operating 442 247* 144**

Countries 34 59 6

Shutdown 150*** 141

Decomm’d 19# 340

* 100 with power level over 1 MW ** 144 vessels; reactors about double that number *** 8 for public acceptance reasons; 4 after an operating incident # 16 fully dismantled and 3 entombed (iaea ntr 2014) 5

Reactor types Fuel Nat U as metal/oxide; LEU as oxide; Nat U or DU mixed with Pu as metal or oxide/carbide Fuel Form Pin / rod / plate / Pebbles / Molten salt mixture Moderator ordinary water/ heavy water/ graphite / molten salt Coolant ordinary water / heavy water / CO2 / Helium / Sodium / molten salt

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Power Reactor types in India Reactor Fuel Moderator Coolant PHWR* Nat U oxide Heavy Water Heavy Water TAPS (BWR) LEU as oxide Light water Light water KKNP (PWR) LEU as oxide Light Water Light Water FBTR DU/ Pu carbide none Sodium PFBR DU/ Pu oxide none Sodium AHWR (BWR) LEU/Th oxide Heavy water Light water *49 PHWRs world-wide - 19 in Canada; 17 in India (4 being built). Elsewhere: Gas Cooled Reactor, Lead Cooled Reactor, Pebble Bed Reactor etc

(AHWR: Advanced Heavy Water Reactor; FBTR: Fast Breeder Test Reactor;

PFBR: Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor) 7

IAEA Nucl Tech Review 2014 End 2013

434 reactors 372 GWe

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PHWRs are better than other types of uranium reactors • No enrichment needed • Per ton of natural uranium yields a little more energy and

plutonium than LWRs • Lower burn-up means lower heat content & radioactivity

level in Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) • So, easier to handle in reprocessing operation • Easier to build and decommission Some countries do not favour it • On line refuelling facilitates higher quality Pu production • Tritium generation 9

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Fuel Assembly

for Tarapur BWRs

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PFBR Fuel Pellets

PFBR is Self-

sustaining.

Breeding Ratio for Future FBRs: 1.08

Unit 1 of Kudankulam Reactor

from NUCLEAR POWER EXPANSION IN INDIA

K .C.Purohit NPCIL

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AHWR Fuel Cluster: 444 in no. 1 ton HEU and 4 ton Th in each

Total length 4.3 m Diameter 11.8 cm

Pin dia 1.1 cm 14

AHWR 300 MW

THORIUM

52,000 kg

PLUTONIUM

1,750 kg

Plant for

Recovery of

Plutonium and

Uranium-233 SPENT

FUEL

U-233 / THORIUM

PLUTONIUM

PLUTONIUM

500 kg/yr for 10 yrs

230 kg/yr after

10 years

Thorium in AHWR-Pu

Burns 6.75 Te Pu – in 10 years 15

FBR 500 MW

3,000 kg Pu

Plutonium

Recovery and Fuel

Refabrication

Excess Plutonium ?

Plutonium in Fast Reactor

PFBR under

Construction

at Kalpakkam

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AHWR 300 MW

THORIUM

40,000 kg

19.75% LEU

11,000 kg

Plant for

Recovery of

Plutonium and

Uranium-233 SPENT

FUEL

U-233 / THORIUM / 8% LEU

U-233 / Pu

19.75% LEU

1,100 kg/yr

Thorium

4,000 kg/yr

Thorium in AHWR-LEU

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AHWR has many special features • Safety Electrical power not required to cool reactor – Gravity does it Can withstand loss of off-site power for about ten days • Economics Fewer equipment – no heavy pumps to cool reactor, no large steam generator • Energy security Advances thorium utilisation 1. Others 300 Mwe generation capacity Exportable product?

China’s Graded Thorium Plans Top Row: Solid Fuel Reactors

Second Row: Fluid Fuel Reactors

2015 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 2 MW 100 1000 DEMO 1000 2 MW 10 100 1000 DEMO

China has set up an exclusive Research Centre for MSR - R&D Staff 750

Collaboration with US DoE 19

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http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Uranium-Resources/Supply-of-Uranium/

Total resource: 5.9 million Te Current Production: 55,000 Te At current rate, can last 100 years

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Uranium in India 1. Present primary source: Jharkhand 2. New Sources a) Tummalapalle: • current operations cover veins containing about 60,000

tonnes in South Cuddapah basin. • The ore here is of low grade. Higher grade ore present in

the Srisailam sub-basin of Cuddapah basin. b) All India (includes Peninsula, Meghalaya and W. India): • Estimated proven resources are about 3% of the world

resources of 5.5 million tonnes. • That works out to about 165,000 tonnes in India, including

the Cuddapah basin. Good for 33 reactors (50 yr life each) 23

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India PHWR Capacity Factors: steady improvement since IUNA

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Annual Natural Uranium Needs

Operating PHWRS

• 9 under safeguards 405 tons

• 6 Outside safeguards 470 tons

• 4 nearing completion 500 tons

• 4 more being built 500 tons

World enrichment capacity (Million SWU)

Rosatom, RF 30 Eurodif, France 7 Urenco, Germany, UK, Holland 14.2 Urenco, US 5.7 China 3

And is growing Enough to process 69,000 t U now To yield 7,300 t of 5% LEU (0.2% tails) Present requirement about 7,000 t ROT: To produce 1 kg of x% LEU requires 2x kg of Nat U

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Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing States: China, France, India and Russian Federation; Japan to join soon. World reprocessing capacity: 4,800 Te/year (TPA) Japan will add 800 TPA and China plans a new 800 TPA plant Direct Disposal States: Canada, Finland and Sweden Others: Undecided on the strategy to adopt

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29 http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/

Pure Plutonium 5.6 kg in weight

Sub-critical

Thank you

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