Material Balance of Fuel Cycles for Plutonium Recycling in Pressurised Water Reactors

An inevitable effect of uranium fuel operation is the production of plutonium. Its increasing inventory requires adoption of plutonium management strategy. The option that can provide inventory minimization and utilization of plutonium’s energy content is its usage as nuclear fuel. Since the most common power reactors are the pressurized water reactors, the current paper examines the material balance of several fuel cycles for single and multiple plutonium recycle in a reference PWR. Once-through fuel cycle’s balance has been used as a benchmark. Plutonium production and consumption rates, uranium and separative work requirements have been evaluated for four fuel cycle variations. The results affirm the overall long-term feasibility of multiple plutonium recycle in PWRs in terms of increased plutonium consumption