A Survey of Worldwide Fuel Cycle Design Approaches and Their Implications on Plant Operations and Safety Analyses

Fuel cycle design approaches vary significantly across the globe for LWR plants. This is driven by unique approaches to economic models, different operational modes, and variations in the regional safety criteria. Cycle length can vary from a few months up to 2 years. Other factors such as taxonomy, technical requirements and regulations have a strong influence as well. This paper assimilates available information to compare the various approaches worldwide and evaluate their impact on operational and safety analysis. In addition, there is a lot of technical work underway to evaluate increasing burnup and enrichment beyond currently approved limits. Environmental and political reasons such as lowering CO2 production or reducing independence on other energy sources – both foreign and domestic can play an important role. Current fuel cycles as well as future evolution owing to ongoing improvements will be considered. This paper will be based on Framatome’s global experience for nuclear core design and safety analysis for PWRs and BWRs. Clearly this paper focuses on the technical part and shows how flexible nuclear power plants are today and how they will open the door to address emerging special requirements. With this operating space of nuclear power, it contributes to low carbon dioxide production, security of supply of electricity, highest safety standards and strong economic value for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operators.