STUDIES ON PRODUCTION PLANNING OF IPEN FUEL-ELEMENT PLANT IN ORDER TO MEET RMB DEMAND

摘要

The plant of the Nuclear Fuel Center (CCN) will have to change its current laboratorial production level to an industrial level in order to meet the fuel demand of RMB and of IEA-R1. CCN's production process is based on the hydrolysis of UF_6, which is not a frequent production route for nuclear fuel. The optimization of the production capacity of such a production route is a new field of studies. Two different approaches from the area of Operations Research (OR) were used in this paper. The first one was the PERT/CPM technique and the second one was the creation of a mathematical linear model for minimization of the production time. PERT/CPM's results reflect the current situation and disclose which production activities may not be critical. The results of the second approach show a new average time of 3.57 days to produce one Fuel Element and set the need of inventory. The mathematical model is dynamic, so that it issues better results if performed monthly. CCN's management team will therefore have a clearer view of the process times and production and inventory levels. That may help to shape the decisions that need to be taken for the enlargement of the plant's production capacity.