CLOSED FUEL CYCLE AND TRANSITION FROM THERMAL TO FAST REACTORS
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CLOSED FUEL CYCLE
AND TRANSITION
FROM THERMAL TO
FAST REACTORS
Stéphane.Bourg@cea.fr
INTRODUCTION CEA | 10 AVRIL 2012 | PAGE 3
The challenge of the Energy Transition
Increase the energy Mitigate the climate
production change
Energy efficienty
Energy
fossil energies renewable energies + nuclear energy
transition
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 4
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, Delft
Nuclear energy is promising …
Energy transition … will require energy technologies that are power dense and
capable of scaling to many tens of TWh … Most forms of renewable energy are,
unfortunately, incapable of doing so … Nuclear fission today represents the only
present-day zero-carbon technology … able to meet …
Ecomodernist Manifesto, 2015
Technically, nuclear power could seem to be the most promising energy, but …
The less information people have,
the most scared they are by nuclear
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule 5
INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 5
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, Delft
Need for a more systemic approach
« Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (…) »
(Bruntland's commission, 1987)
Recent concern
Baseline for technology
Climate change
Overall Footprint
Viable development
How to
ensure
How to Sustainability affordability?
improve
• Predictable, stable and
environment Bearable Equitable limited energy cost
al footprint? • Economic stability through
• GHG-free energy energetic independence
• Preservation of natural resource
• Reduce and manage ultimate waste reducing risks,
How to • Highest level of safety and reliability
• Low environmental footprint democratic choice, improve • Consensual choice of the society
acceptability? • Promote the international stability
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule 6
INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 6
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, Delft
Presentation of the reference case:
French nuclear powerplants fleet
58 reactors located on 19 sites, capped at 63,2 GWe
Standardised fleet: 1 single reactor types, with 3 different powers 900, 1300
et 1450 MWe
Produce 70-80% of French electricity (~400-450 TWh), i.e. 40% of total
French primary energy
Reactors connected between 1977 and 1999
12 GEN1 generation reactors halted
1 GEN3 generation reactor under construction (Flammanville3, EPR)
1. Methodology
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible
INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL
7
7
May 2019, Delft
THE OPEN FUEL CYCLE CEA | 10 AVRIL 2012 | PAGE 8
Nuclear Energy Today – open fuel cycle
Spent fuel as the ultimate waste
depleted U 430 TWhe
(0.2 – 0.5% 235U)
Does not preserve natural resource 8300t/a
Uranium
Natural U is a limited resource ore Spent
fuel
Although present everywhere, ~9500t/a 1200t/a 1200t/a
U-ores of reasonable economic (Once-through)
interest are limited (260$/kg U) 56t/a 235U ~9t/a 235U
Minimum lifespan ~135 years ~1122t/a 236+238U
1144t/a 238U ∆U~70t/a
(with current consumption ~14t/a Pu
56kt/y) Efficiency~0.7%
~55t/a FP+AM
Need for preserving U-resource
Rough estimates derived from French Fuel cycle assuming no recycling
Global efficiency is currently
very low: ~0.7% 300
Estimated lifespan (years)
250
~70t from the initial ~9500t 200
Uore 150
100
Need for improving U- 50
efficiency 0
coal gas oil uranium
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 9
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, Delft
Environmental impact of the open fuel cycle
Human
Water Ecotox toxicity
pollution Land use Water Water Techno Acidif Eutroph POCP (g1,4- (g1,4-
CO2 Sox Nox (mg/ (m2year/M cons With Waste (gSO2eq/ (gPO4eq/ (gC2H4eq/ DCBeq/ DCBeq/
(g/KWhe) (g/KWhe) (g/KWhe) kWhe) Whe) (L/MWhe) (L/MWhe) (g/MWHe) MWh) MWh) MWh) MWh) MWh)
5,45 0,0187 0,0290 341,67 234,63 1511,4 72369,2 28,9 39,15 5,31 3,32 761,60 1471,29
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 10
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, Delft
THE CLOSED FUEL CYCLE CEA | 10 AVRIL 2012 | PAGE 11
Nuclear Energy Today – French fuel cycle
Plutonium mono-recycling in MOX fuel
Or Twice-Through fuel Cycle (TTC), also known as closed fuel cycle
Spent
- 15 to 20% of French
fuel
Up to 9500 t 93.0% 238U 0,76% oddPu electricity yearly
-20% 8000 t 0.75% 235U 0,41% evenPu supplied by recycled
1200t 1200t
0.54% 236U materials
Uranium ore
fuel - ~1500t uranium ore
FP 4.55%
Depleted yearly preserved
uranium 95% 1% MOX fuels - No significant SNF
4% 10 - 15/a
Per
interim storage
ERU Enriched Rep. U fuels 120 m3 reactor risk reduced
Recycling plants HLW
La Hague MELOX
>33 000 tHM reprocessed >2 000tHM of MOX fuel produced
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 12
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe current industrial French « closed » fuel cycle
58 reactors
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 13
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe industrial PUREX process at la Hague: U and Pu recovery
Solvent extraction process
Aqueous phase: nitric acid
Organic phase: TBP in aliphatic diluent
Recovery yields U/Pu >99,8%
Decontamination factor >107 TBP: tri-butyl phosphate
[U]=300g/l, [Pu]= 3,2g/l, [others]= 12,6g/l ORANO La Hague Plant
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 14
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftEnvironmental impact of the TTC
BACK-END
FRONT-END
5,2 0,02 0,02 0,3 211 1,5 72 26 34 5 3 638 1233
gCO2eq/kWh g/kWh g/kWh g/kWh m²/MWh m3/MWh m3/MWh g/MWh gSO2eq/MWh gPO4eq/MWh gC2H4eq/MWh gDCBeq/MWh gDCBeq/MWh
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 15
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe radioactive releases of the TTC
Radioactive releases (KBq!):
53% Rn release around mines … however strong
Radioactive Releases
Gas - Other RN overestimation since al the Rn is assumed to be
(Reactors)
Liq - Tritium
(Reprocessing) 2%
Gas - Other RN instantaneously released (no kinetics)
(Reprocessing)
Gas - Rare gases
(Reprocessing) 45%
Liq - Other RN 45% Rare gases release during reprocessing:
(Reprocessing)
Liq - Other RN
The overall radiological impact is estimated to be
(Conversion)
Liq - Tritium ~1% of natural radioactivity
Gas - Radon (Mine) (Reactors)
Gas - Rare gases
53%
(Reactors) 2% liquid release
3,1 KBq/KWhe Gas - Tritium
(Reactors) Dominated by 3H release around reactors.
Gas - Tritium
1245,6 KBq/KWhe (Reprocessing)
Necessity for considering dose impact …
but scenarii are highly subjective and site-
dependent
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 16
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe radioactive waste of the TTC
3217 30,2 1.2 0.36 (m3/TWhe)
A very sensitive indicators for public acceptance
Main outcomes
VLLW: surface repository in operation since 2003 in
Morvilliers.
Overestimation since mine tailings are included
ILW-SL: shallow repository in operation since 1994 in
Soulaines-Dhuys
Dominated by reactors operation
ILW-LL and HLW are planned to be disposed of in a
deep underground repository around Bure (2025
according to the French Law)
Dominated by reprocessing activities (replace spent fuel)
2. Current FCderesults
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule
Département Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible
INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 17
May 2019, DelftWhat do we gain when moving from open cycle to TTC ?
Anticipated evolution of environmental indicators when implementing the recycling (TTC) Radioactive release (Bq !!)
Only = Rn, (time-dependent decay not
accounted for).
Linked to recycling activities:
Atmospheric release: 85Kr, 14C,
Liquid release: mainly 3H, 129I
However, their impact is
demonstrated to be negligible:
17-24 µSv/yr for the most exposed
population
~1% natural radioactivity
Directly related to the decrease by 15-20% of the
front-end activities Conservative case assuming 1700t/y. of
60GWd/t fuels reprocessed
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 18
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftEvolution of the radioactive waste from OTC to TTC
Relative contribution of
each fuel cycle step (TTC)
Comparison TTC vs. OTC
Strong modification of the
waste typology recycling recycling
Recycling reduces the
repository surface area
and excavated volume
5. Recycling effect
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible
INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 19
May 2019, DelftA GEN IV FAST REACTOR
FUEL CYCLE
CEA | 10 AVRIL 2012
| PAGE 20GEN4 systems with fast neutrons
Plutonium multi-recycling
Fission
/capture
σfission/σcapture FR MOx (450 t)
6,00
REL
LWR Used MOx
5,00
FNR
RNR
FNR (450 t)
4,00
Fuel
3,00 Manufacturing
2,00 Plutonium (# 70 t) Waste
1,00 (50 t)
Depleted Uranium (Uret# 330 t) Recycling
0,00
238Pu 239Pu 240Pu 241Pu 242Pu U (# 50 t) plant
With current reactors With fast neutron reactors
50 Gtoe
1GWe ~ COAL 1GWe ~
GAS
150t Unat/y 160 Gtoe COAL 1t Unat/y
OIL
420 Gtoe OIL 7500 Gtoe
230 Gtoe
U=6% world energy potential U=90% world energy potential
Very significant improvement of natural uranium efficiency
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 21
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe current industrial French « closed » fuel cycle
58 reactors
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 22
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe potential FR fuel cycle producing the same energy
42 reactors 1450MWe
450 t
330 t
450 t
330 t
50 t
50 t 70 t
50 t
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible 23
May 2019, DelftImpact of GEN4 fuel cycle: case of SFR
SFR
Impact indicators Unit
scenario
GHG emissions gCO2 eq/kWhe 2.33
SOx emissions g/MWhe 0.59
NOx emissions g/MWhe 3.83
Land-use m2/GWhe 50.2
Water consumption L/MWhe 1237
Water withdrawal L/MWhe 60336
Acidification gSO2 eq/MWhe 3.3
POCP gC2H4 eq/MWhe 0.18
Ecotoxicity g1,4-DCB eq/MWhe 0.07
Human toxicity g1,4-DCB eq/MWhe 4.8
Eutrophication gPO4 eq/MWhe 1.8
Liquid chemical effluents kg/GWhe 12.6
Technological waste kg/GWhe 18.70
Gaseous radioactive release Bq/KWhe 5.28E+05
Liquid radioactive release Bq/KWhe 3557
VLLW m3/TWhe 72.4
LILW-SL m3/TWhe 18.2
LILW-LL m3/TWhe 1.4
HLW m3/TWhe 0.30
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 24
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftComparison of SFR and current PWR TTC
• Improvement related to (i) the suppression of front-end activities and
(ii) the higher thermal efficiency (~40% ≠ 33%)
6. Future NE systems
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible
INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 25
May 2019, DelftGEN4 systems with fast neutrons
Plutonium multi-recycling and minor actinides transmutation
Recycling the minor actinides:
1010000
4
Relative radiotoxicity
1031000
a potential contribution for
Radiotoxicité relative
102100
10 10 decreasing the waste burden
U-ore
1 1
Time
0,1 0,1
10 103Temps (années)104
10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
102 105 106
Waste toxicity dominated by MA
Recycling MA decrease waste lifetime
and toxicity
Am recycling
HLW: 160 ha HLW: 1200 ha
Residual heatpower (W/tHM)
Preserve the valuable repository
resource
of the heat load density of the
repository
With Am recycling, reduction of the
repository volume by a factor up to 8
Very significant increase of the
repository "lifespan"
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 26
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftTHE PROCESSING
Wednesday afternoon
Friday morning
CEA | 10 AVRIL 2012
| PAGE 27LWR UOX fuel vs Fast MOX fuel
Spent UOX fuel (for 100g) Spent MOX fuel (for 100g)
95 g of U 73,3 g of U Increasing the Pu content increases
1 g of Pu 15,6 g of Pu the refractoriness of the fuel and
4g of FP 11,1 g of FP makes its (quantitative) dissolution
an issue
Dissolution liquor Dissolution liquor (hypothesis)
[U] = 300g/l [U] = 146,6g/l Increasing the Pu concentration
[Pu] = 3,2g/l [Pu] = 31,2g/l increases the radiolysis degradation
[PF] = 12,6 g/l [PF] = 22,2g/l of the chemical system and some
solubility issues
However, once the head-end step has been optimised (dissolution),
the PUREX process can be used on a MOX dissolution liquor
An alternative is the co-management of U and Pu with the COEX process, derived from PUREX
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 28
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe management of minor actinides
in advanced fuel cycles in Europe
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 29
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe SACSESS reference process flowsheets
TODGA 0.2M, TPH DMDOHEMA 0.5M +
+ 0.5M TBP TODGA 0.2M
TPH
Q=60 mL/h 1 4 12 16
1 1 12 13 16
An, Ln EXT FP Scrubbings Am
FP
Nd An EXTRACTION SCRUBBING
Q=30 mL/h HNO3
Feed solution
HNO3 3M oxal. 0.5M HNO3 0.5M 0.5M
HEDTA 0.05M 1 1
HNO3 5M oxal. 0.5M AP1
HEDTA 0.13M F.P. Feed solution
Q=30 mL/h
CDTA 0,05M
HNO3 5.9M
1 12 28 1 8
Ln Scrubbing Am Am Am Am An Stripping Ln, Y Stripping
Nd Nd Nd Nd
Am
pH Nd 1 1 7 12 13 16
21 24
Am + Cm 2BX Ln, Y Diluted
28
DTPA 0.01M HNO3 Ln SCRUBBING An STRIPPING Ln STRIPPING
Malonic acid 1M
NaNO3 1M
2 2
pH 2.22
AP2 BTP 0.054M AP3 Glycolic acid 0.1M
An AHA 1M Ln FP pH 4
2BXa 2BXb HNO3 0.5M
DTPA DTPA
Malonic acid Malonic acid
1 1
NaNO 3 NaNO 3
pH 1.7 pH 2.5
HNO3 BTP 0.11M
1M AHA 2M
i-SANEX EURO-GANEX
EURO-EXAM
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 30
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftTO SUMMARIZE… CEA | 10 AVRIL 2012 | PAGE 31
Anticipated beneficial impact of recycling
activities
Actinides recycling significantly improve the nuclear energy
environmental footprint
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 32
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftA significant Improvement of
the nuclear waste issues
• Relative decrease of HLW vs. ILW while total volume of waste ~ constant +/- 20%
• Decrease of thermal power due to Pu-recycling significant gain for the repository surface and
volume
• Decrease of radiotoxicity & lifetime
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 33
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftSocietal drivers:
Improve waste management
Improve waste management
Waste is severely questioned by public opinion
Nuclear waste seen as Achille's heel of nuclear
energy (due to lifetime)
Main concern = waste lifetime. Any reduction could
help to improve acceptability. Could we reduce waste
Opinion survey lifetime back within Human History?
(IRSN, 2014)
Eurobarometer 2008: % of EU citizens supporting nuclear energy Past
with/without a permanent and safe solution for the HLW 109 106 103 100
Earth Dinosaurs Cro-Magnon WWII
1st Human Charlemagne
formation beings
Billions... Millions... Thousands... Years
Future
109 106 103 100
40K 235U 129I 135Cs 79Se239Pu 14C 241Am 137Cs
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 34
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftThe rationale of future nuclear fuel cycles for an
improved sustainability
1980 2000 2200 2040 2060 2080 2100
Dates are purely indicative
TOWARDS INCREASING SUSTAINABILITY
Once-through cycle
Gen. II & III Pu-monorecycling
Pu-mono-recycling Gen. IV Pu-multi-recycling
- Twice-Through Cycle Gen. IV …+ MA recycling
Pu multi-recycling
- LWR reactors
- Multi-Through Cycle
- Pu-recycling in MOX fuel Pu+MA multi-recycling
- Fast-Reactors (FR)
- Fast Reactors (FR)
- Pu multi-recycling
- Pu multi-recycling
Breakthrough=reactors
- MA burning
Main incentives
Evolution=cycle
- 1st step towards U Main incentives Main incentives
resource saving - Major resource saving - Decrease of waste burden,
- Efficient waste - Energetic independence - Optimisation of the repository
conditioning - Public acceptance
- Economic stability
Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 35
Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, DelftTo go further … Direction de l’Energie Nucléaire - Marcoule INSPYRE SUMMER SCHOOL 36 Département de Recherche sur les Procédés pour la Mine et le Recyclage du Combustible May 2019, Delft
Christophe POINSSOT,
CEA Marcoule / Nuclear Energy Division (DEN)
Head of the RadioChemistry & Processes Department (DRCP)
Professor in Nuclear Chemistry, National Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (INSTN)
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