Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing modeling

Abstract

The long-term wide development of nuclear power requires new approaches towards the realization of nuclear fuel cycle, namely, closed nuclear fuel cycle (CNFC) with respect to fission materials. Plant nuclear fuel cycle (PNFC), which is in fact the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel unloaded from the reactor and the production of new nuclear fuel (NF) at the same place together with reactor plant, can be one variant of CNFC. Developing and projecting of PNFC is a complicated high-technology innovative process that requires modern information support. One of the components of this information support is developed by the authors. This component is the programme conducting calculations for various variants of process flow sheets for reprocessing SNF and production of NF. Central in this programme is the blocks library, where the blocks contain mathematical description of separate processes and operations. The calculating programme itself has such a structure that one can configure the complex of blocks and correlations between blocks, appropriate for any given flow sheet. For the ready sequence of operations balance calculations are made of all flows, i.e. expenses, element and substance makeup, heat emission and radiation rate are determined. The programme is open and the block library can be updated. This means that more complicated and detailed models of technological processes will be added to the library basing on the results of testing processes using real equipment, in test operating mode. The development of the model for the realization of technical-economic analysis of various variants of technologic PNFC schemes and the organization of 'operator's advisor' is expected. (authors)