Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology

Inventories, and characteristics such as dimension, fuel rod array, weight, 235U enrichment, and discharge burnup of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) generated from existing and planed nuclear power plants based on National 2nd Basic Plan for Electric Power Demand and Supply were investigated and projected to support geological disposal system design. The historical and projected inventory by the end 2057 is expected to be 20,500 and 14,800MTU for PWR and CANDU spent nuclear fuel, respectively. The quantity of SNF with initial 235U enrichment of 4.5 wt.% and below was shown to be 96.5% in total. Average burnup of SNF revealed 36 GWD/MTU and 40 GWD/MTU for the period of 1994-1999 and 2000-2003, respectively. It is expected that the average burnup of SNF will be 45 GWD/MTU at the end of 2000';s. From the comprehensive study, it was concluded that the imaginary SNF with 16 16 Korean Standard Fuel Assembly, cross section of 21.4 21.4 , length of 453 , mass of 672 , initial 235U enrichment of 4.5 wt.%, discharge burnup of 55 GWD/MTU could cover almost all SNFs to be produced by 2057.

Keywords

spent nuclear fuel,geological disposal system,high-level waste,reprocessing,radioactive waste