Preliminary Evaluation of a Nuclear Scenario Involving Innovative Gas Cooled Reactors
2009
In order to guarantee a sustainable supply of future energy demand
without compromising the environment, some actions for a
substantial reduction of CO2 emissions are nowadays deeply analysed. One of them is
the improvement of the nuclear energy use. In this framework,
innovative gas-cooled reactors (both thermal and fast) seem to be
very attractive from the electricity production point of view and
for the potential industrial use along the high temperature
processes (e.g., H2 production by steam reforming or I-S process). This
work focuses on a preliminary (and conservative) evaluation of
possible advantages that a symbiotic cycle (EPR-PBMR-GCFR) could
entail, with special regard to the reduction of the HLW inventory
and the optimization of the exploitation of the fuel resources.
The comparison between the symbiotic cycle chosen and the
reference one (once-through scenario, i.e., EPR-SNF directly
disposed) shows a reduction of the time needed to reach a fixed
reference level from
∼170000 years to
∼1550 years
(comparable with typical human times and for this reason more
acceptable by the public opinion). In addition, this cycle enables
to have a more efficient use of resources involved: the total
electric energy produced becomes equal to
∼630 TWh/year
(instead of only
∼530 TWh/year
using only EPR) without consuming additional raw materials.
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