Alternatives to proposed replacement production reactors

To insure adequate supplies of plutonium and tritium for defense purposes, an independent evaluation was made by Los Alamos National Laboratory of the numerous alternatives to the proposed replacement production reactors (RPR). This effort concentrated on the defense fuel cycle operation and its technical implications in identifying the principal alternatives for the 1990s. The primary options were identified as (1) existing commercial reactors, (2) existing and planned government-owned facilities (not now used for defense materials production), and (3) other RPRs (not yet proposed) such as CANDU or CANDU-type heavy-water reactors (HWR) for both plutonium and tritium production. The evaluation considered features and differences of various options that could influence choice of RPR alternatives. Barring a change in the US approach to civilian and defense fuel cycles and precluding existing commercial reactors at government-owned sites, the most significant alternatives were identified as a CANDU-type HWR at Savannah River Plant (SRP) site or the Three Mile Island commercial reactor with reprocessing capability at Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant and at SRP.