• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.1063-1070
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• 2017

This paper presents a method for forecasting future uranium prices that is used as input data to calculate the uranium cost, which is a rational key cost driver of the nuclear fuel cycle cost. In other words, the statistical autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and existing engineering cost estimation method, the so-called escalation rate model, were subjected to a comparative analysis. When the uranium price was forecasted in 2015, the margin of error of the ARIMA model forecasting was calculated and found to be 5.4%, whereas the escalation rate model was found to have a margin of error of 7.32%. Thus, it was verified that the ARIMA model is more suitable than the escalation rate model at decreasing uncertainty in nuclear fuel cycle cost calculation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.369-376
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• 2018

The ability to recover the nearly limitless supply of uranium contained within the world's oceans would provide supply security to uranium based fuel cycles. Therefore, in addition to U.S. national laboratories conducting R&D on a system capable of harvesting seawater uranium, a number of collaborative university partners have developed alternative technologies to complement the national laboratory scheme. This works summarizes the systems analysis of such novel uranium recovery technologies along with their potential impacts on seawater uranium recovery. While implementation of some recent developments can reduce the cost of seawater uranium by up to 30%, other researchers have sought to address a weakness while maintaining cost competitiveness.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3650-3659
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• 2022

We proposed a modification of a double cascade scheme to enrich reprocessed uranium. Such a cascade scheme represents a combination of one cascade with "broadening" of the flow and an ordinary three-flow cascade. A calculation and optimization method has been developed for the proposed scheme according to various efficiency criteria. It is shown that the proposed scheme makes it possible to obtain low-enriched uranium of commercial quality using reprocessed uranium of different initial compositions. For example, the enrichment of reprocessed uranium, which had gone through five consequent recycles, was considered. The proposed scheme allowed to enrich it with simultaneous fulfillment of restrictions on isotopes ²³²U, ²³⁴U, and ²³⁶U. Such results indicate the scheme's applicability under conditions of multiple recycling of uranium in reactor fuel. Computational experiments have shown that in the proposed modification, a noticeable saving of natural uranium in the cycle (~18%) can be achieved, provided that the additional consumption of separative work does not exceed 10%, compared with the case of enrichment of natural uranium to obtain LEU of equivalent quality.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.295-301
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• 2023

To broaden the utilization of nuclear energy, uranium as a fuel should be mined indispensably. Mining accounts for the largest portion of the cost of producing the uranium assembly. Therefore, this study analyzes the trends of uranium prices, which have a significant impacts on the mining cost. Uranium production contributing to the price fluctuations is explained in five periods from 1945 to the present. Moreover, the series of events affecting uranium prices from the 1970s until the present are verified. Among them, the most recent incidents considered in this study are the following: COVID-19 pandemic, Kazakhstan unrest, and Russia-Ukraine war. European countries have started to reconsider the transition to nuclear power to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas, which has contributed to the surge in uranium prices. Based on the results of this study, various international issues have been closely associated with the nuclear power industry and uranium, affecting the production of uranium and its price.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.214-220
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• 2019

Thermochemical cycles have been predominantly used for energy transformation from heat to stored chemical free energy in the form of hydrogen. The thermochemical cycle based on uranium (UTC), proposed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been considered as a better alternative compared to other thermochemical cycles mainly due to its safety and high efficiency. UTC process includes three steps, in which only the first step is unique. Hydrogen production apparatus with hectogram reactants was designed in this study. The results showed that high yield hydrogen was obtained, which was determined by drainage method. The results also indicated that the chemical conversion rate of hydrogen production was in direct proportion to the mass of $Na_2CO_3$, while the solid product was $Na_2UO_4$, instead of $Na_2U_2O_7$. Nevertheless the thermochemical cycle used for hydrogen generation can be closed, and chemical compounds used in these processes can also be recycled. So the cycle with $Na_2UO_4$ as its first reaction product has an advantage over the proposed UTC process, attributed to the fast reaction rate and high hydrogen yield in the first reaction step.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.794-800
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• 2018

The proliferation resistance (PR) of Th/U and Th/Pu fuels used in CANada Deuterium Uranium for the deep geological repository was assessed by combining the multiattribute utility analysis proposed by Chirayath et al., 2015 with the transport model of radionuclides in the repository and comparing with that of the used natural U fuel case. It was found that there was no significant advantage for Th/U and Th/Pu fuels from the viewpoint of the PR in the repository. It was also found that the PR values for used nuclear fuels in the repository of Th/U, Th/Pu, and natural U was comparable with those for enrichment and reprocessing facilities in the pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear fuel cycle. On the other hand, the PR values considering the transport of radionuclides in the repository were found to be slightly smaller than those without their transport after the used nuclear fuels started dissolving after 1,000 years.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 1991

The system analysis for Korean nuclear power reactor option is made on the basis of reliability, cost minimization, finite uranium resource availability and nuclear engineering manpower supply constraints. The reference reactor scenarios are developed considering the future electricity demand, nuclear share, current nuclear power plant standardization program and manufacturing capacity. The levelized power generation cost, uranium requirement and nuclear engineering professionals demand are estimated for each reference reactor scenarios and nuclear fuel cycle options from the year 1990 up to the year 2030. Based on the outcomes of the analysis, uranium resource utilization, reliability and nuclear engineering manpower requirements are sensitive to the nuclear reactor strategy and associated fuel cycle whereas the system cost is not. APWR, CANDU longrightarrow FBR strategy is to be the best option for Korea. However, APWR, CANDU longrightarrow Passive Safe Reactor(PSR）longrightarrowFBR strategy should be also considered as a contingency for growing national concerns on nuclear safety and public acceptance deterioration in the future. FBR development and establishment of related fuel cycle should be started as soon as possible considering the uranium shortage anticipated between 2007 and 2032. It should be noted that the increasing use of nuclear energy to minimize the greenhouse effects in the early 21st century would accelerate the uranium resource depletion. The study also concludes that the current level of nuclear engineering professionals employment is not sufficient until 2010 for the establishment of nuclear infrastructure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.203-204
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2007

The Korean nuclear fuel cycle was modeled by the dynamic analysis method, which was applied to the once-through and alternative fuel cycles. First, the once-through fuel cycle was analyzed based on the Korean nuclear power plant construction plan up to 2015 and a postulated nuclear demand growth rate of zero after 2015. Second, alternative fuel cycles including the direct use of spent pressurized water reactor fuel in Canada deuterium uranium reactors (DUPIC), a sodium-cooled fast reactor and an accelerator driven system were assessed and the results were compared with those of the once-through fuel cycle. The once-through fuel cycle calculation showed that the nuclear power demand would be 25 GWe and the amount of the spent fuel will be ${\sim}65000$ tons by 2100. The alternative fuel cycle analyses showed that the spent fuel inventory could be reduced by more than 30% and 90% through the DUPIC and fast reactor fuel cycles, respectively, when compared with the once-through fuel cycle. The results of this study indicate that both spent fuel and uranium resources can be effectively managed if alternative reactor systems are timely implemented along with the existing reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.581-592
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• 2008

In this study, a conceptual pyroprocess flowsheet has been devised by combining several dry-type unit processes; its applicability as an alternative fuel cycle technology was analyzed. A key point in the evaluation of its applicability to the fuel cycle was the recovery yield of fissile materials from spent fuels as well as the proliferation resistance of the process. The recovery yields of uranium and transuranic elements (TRU) were obtained from a material balance for every unit process composing the whole pyroprocess. The material balances for several elemental groups of interest such as uranium, TRU, rare earth, gaseous fission products, and heat generating elements were calculated on the basis of the knowledge base that is available from domestic and foreign experimental results or technical information presented in open literature. The calculated result of the material balance revealed that uranium and TRU could be recovered at 98.0% and 97.0%, respectively, from a typical PWR spent fuel. Furthermore, the anticipated TRU product was found to emit a non-negligible level of $\gamma$-ray and a significantly higher level of neutrons compared to that of a typical plutonium product obtained from the PUREX process. The results indicate that the product from this conceptual pyroprocessing should be handled in a shielded cell and that this will contribute favorably to retaining proliferation resistance.