OVERVIEW - NFC
NSE 409 (Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Radioactive Waste Management)
Lecturer Md Shamim Hassan
NSE Dept, MIST, Dhaka
Email:
[email protected] Topic
• s
An Overview Of The Fuel Cycle
• Mining And Milling Of Uranium
• Purification And Conversion To UF6
• Uranium Enrichment(Gaseous Diffusion - Centrifuge
Enrichment - Laser Enrichment)
• Fuel Fabrication
• Fuel Assembly And Fuel Design
• Properties Of Irradiated Fuel
• Fuel Burn up Calculation
• Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing,
• Separative Work Unit (SWU) + Analysis Of SWU
• Recycling Of Uranium And Plutonium
• Spent Fuel Management
• Fuel Economy
Teaching Schedule
Week Lecture/Tutorial/Assignment References/Teaching
Topic Materials/Equipment
1 An Overview Of The Fuel Cycle PP notes, Lecture notes,
Reference texts
2 Different Fuels and fuel PP notes, Lecture notes,
utilization Reference texts
3 Different Fuels and fuel PP notes, Lecture notes,
utilization Reference texts
4 Mining And Milling Of Uranium PP notes, Lecture notes,
Reference texts
5 PurificationAnd ConversionTo PP notes, Lecture notes,
UF6 Reference texts
6 Uranium PP notes, Lecture notes,
Enrichment(Gaseous Reference texts
Diffusion- Centrifuge
Enrichment
- Laser Enrichment)
7 Fuel Fabrication PP notes, Lecture
notes, Reference
Teaching Schedule
Week Lecture/Tutorial/Assignment References/Teaching
Topic Materials/Equipment
8 Fuel Assembly And Fuel PP notes, Lecture notes,
Design- Reference texts
+
Properties Of Irradiated Fuel
9 Fuel Burn up Calculation PP notes, Lecture notes,
Reference texts
10 Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing PP notes, Lecture notes,
Reference texts
11 Separative WorkUnit (SWU) + PP notes, Lecture notes,
Analysis Of SWU Reference texts
12 Recycling Of PP notes, Lecture
UraniumAnd notes, Reference
Plutonium texts
13 Spent Fuel Management PP notes, Lecture notes,
Reference texts
14 Fuel economy PP notes, Lecture
notes, Reference
texts
Types of nuclear fuel
• cycle
Definition
The nuclear fuel cycle is the series of
steps involved in producing nuclear fuel
and managing it after it is used in a
reactor.
• Direct fuel cycle
Also known as the once through or open
fuel cycle.
• Reprocessing fuel cycle
Also known as the closed fuel.
Ends of the Nuclear Fuel
Cycle
The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Fuel cycle components
Once through/ open fuel cycle Closed fuel cycle
• Uranium mining & milling • Uranium mining & milling
• Conversion to gaseous • Conversion to gaseous
uranium hexafluoride uranium hexafluoride
• Uranium enrichment • Uranium enrichment
• Nuclear fuel manufacture • Nuclear fuel manufacture
• Nuclear reactor operations • Nuclear reactor operations
• Spent fuel storage and • Spent fuel storage and
transport transport
• Radioactive waste • Spent fuel reprocessing
management • Radioactive waste
• Decommissioning & management
disposal • Decommissioning &
disposal
Uranium Mining and
Milling
Uranium milling
Conversion, Enrichment and
Fuel Fabrication
Uranium ore concentrate
conversion
Uranium enrichment
U isotopes can only be separated by using the
small
mass differences
• Gaseous diffusion
UF6 passed through a semi-permeable
membrane
• Gas centrifuge
Rotating cylinders in which 238U concentrates
towards the outside
Requires less energy than gaseous diffusion
• Laser techniques – not yet used
Production of nuclear fuel
UO2, Pellets and Fuel
Assembly
Fuel Rods
Overview of Nuclear Fuel cycle
The Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC) includes the set of processes and operations needed to: mine and
extract uranium from ore; enrich the fissile content of the fuel if necessary; manufacture nuclear
fuel; irradiate the fuel in nuclear power reactors; store the irradiated fuel; and either reprocess the
fuel for recycling of uranium and plutonium or dispose of the fuel and in either case dispose of
waste products.
Although several nuclear fuel cycles may be considered depending on the type of reactor and the
type of fuel used and whether or not the irradiated fuel is reprocessed and recycled, they all
include common or similar steps. They start with mining of uranium and end with disposal of
spent fuel and/or other radioactive waste.
The raw material for the NFC is uranium, which is a relatively common metal found throughout
the world. The first step of the NFC is uranium production, when uranium ore is extracted from
the ground and processed to final product, “yellowcake”, a powder form of uranium oxide
(U3O8). In the second step, conversion, this “yellowcake” is converted to uranium hexafluoride
(UF6), which can be vaporized at a relatively low temperature. The hexafluoride (“hex”) can be
converted to uranium metal for certain types of reactor, but is usually sent for enrichment. In this
step the concentration of the fissile isotope 235U is increased in comparison with non-fissile
238U. In the next step, fuel fabrication, UF6 is converted to UO2 powder, which is then
converted to ceramic pellets and loaded into long metal tubes forming fuel rods. More fuel rods
are put into fuel assemblies for loading into nuclear reactors. This step, irradiation/nuclear
reactor operation, is the purpose of the whole NFC since the energy hidden in nuclei is released
and transformed to heat which can be used to generate electricity.
Overview of Nuclear Fuel cycle
After typically 3-6 years in a nuclear reactor, spent fuel is transferred to spent fuel storage, where
spent fuel assemblies are stored under water, which provides both cooling and radiation shielding.
After a few years, the spent fuel can be transferred to interim storage, where it is kept in water pools
(wet storage), or in casks (dry storage).
Depending on the chosen type of NFC and chosen spent fuel management option, spent fuel might
be conditioned for longer term interim storage or for disposal (this is spent fuel conditioning), or
transferred to facilities where uranium and plutonium are recovered from spent fuel for recycling.
Recovered uranium can be converted to UF6 and re-enriched. Plutonium (with uranium) can be
used for production of mixed oxide fuel (MOX fuel) for certain types of reactors. All these
activities are called spent fuel reprocessing and recycling.
Conditioned spent fuel, and vitrified unusable high level waste products from spent fuel
reprocessing can be safely disposed to deep underground, in stable rock formations such as granite.
Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Safety, Security and Safeguards
Issues
Physical Protection
• Nuclear Facilities protectionto prevent theft of
need materials nuclear
• Facility
operations need protection to prevent
sabotage to containment and confinement systems with
consequential release of radioactivity
• Nuclear reactor coolant and power control and shut-
down systems need protection to prevent power coolant
mismatch leading to uncontrolled release of radioactivity
Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Safety, Security and Safeguards
Issues
Health Hazards
Natural uranium(unprocessed)
• External & internal radiation hazard
• Cannot be used as such as a nuclear
weapon
Natural uranium(processed)
• External exposure of the skin
• Chemical toxicity – similar to lead
• Cannot be used as such as a nuclear
weapon
Depleted uranium
• As processed naturaluranium
Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Safety, Security and Safeguards
Issues
Health Hazards
Low enriched uranium
• Similar to processed natural
uranium
Highly enriched uranium
• Fissile material used in nuclear
weapons
Plutonium-239
• Little external radiationhazard
• Highly radiotoxic
• Fissile material used in nuclear
weapons
Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Safety, Security and Safeguards
Issues
Hazards
Nuclear waste, spent fuel, fissionproducts
• Highly dangerous
• Cannot be used as such as a nuclear
weapon
• Can however be used to make a ‘dirty
bomb’
Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Safety, Security and Safeguards
Issues
Safeguards
• Safeguards involve accounting and auditing
procedures of all nuclear materials under
the Non-Proliferation Treaty so that when they
are used or traded their civil use can be
verified
• IAEA keeps track of the movement of nuclear
materials and verifies inventories
THANK
YOU
