An Assessment of the Effect on Olkiluoto Repository Capacity Achievable with Advanced Fuel Cycles

Advanced nuclear fuel cycle scenarios were simulated with the COSI6 code, developed by CEA (France), to assess, how much the capacity of the planned nuclear waste repository at Olkiluoto (Finland) could be increased with the help of partitioning and transmutation (P&T) technologies. The repository capacity evaluation of this study is based on the comparison of the decay heats produced by the deposited waste in various scenarios. The COSI6 code is used for simulations to provide the repository decay heat curves. Applying the closed fuel cycle would change the disposal concept and schedule, because of which it is not quite straightforward to assess the impact of P&T on the capacity. However, it can be concluded that recycling the transuranic nuclides probably decreases the required volume for the disposal, but thermal dimensioning analysis is needed for more specific conclusion