ASSESSMENT AND BENCHMARKING WITH ORION AND CYCLUS FOR US FUEL CYCLE OPTIONS

摘要

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening-Final Report identified promising candidates for the future of the US fuel cycle based on equilibrium calculations. In order to efficiently implement these alternative fuel cycles, the transition away from the current once-through cycle must also be analyzed. Simulation tools such as ORION and Cyclus allow for this transition to be quickly and accurately assessed and optimized over many parameters of interest. In order to be certain that both tools produced accurate results, steady-state cases were simulated and subsequently compared against the equilibrium physics and mass flow data generated for the Fuel Cycle Data Packages. By repeating this process for the current once-through fuel cycle and a scenario with full recycle and fast reactors, the transition between the two could then be modeled with confidence. The resulting transitional simulations from each tool produced consistent results which illustrate the amount of time required to fully implement a self-sustaining fleet of fast reactors while phasing out light water reactors. This transition was found to take a minimum of around 140 years under the constraints assumed in this analysis. This approach will continue to be used for other promising fuel cycle options in order to help inform the-future direction of the US fuel cycle.