German Spent Nuclear Fuel Legacy : Characteristics and High-Level Waste Management Issues
Author
Source
Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations
Issue
Vol. 2013, Issue 2013 (31 Dec. 2013), pp.1-11, 11 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2013-02-04
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
11
Main Subjects
Engineering Sciences and Information Technology
Abstract EN
Germany is phasing-out the utilization of nuclear energy until 2022.
Currently, nine light water reactors of originally nineteen are still connected to the grid.
All power plants generate high-level nuclear waste like spent uranium or mixed uranium-plutonium dioxide fuel which has to be properly managed.
Moreover, vitrified high-level waste containing minor actinides, fission products, and traces of plutonium reprocessing loses produced by reprocessing facilities has to be disposed of.
In the paper, the assessments of German spent fuel legacy (heavy metal content) and the nuclide composition of this inventory have been done.
The methodology used applies advanced nuclear fuel cycle simulation techniques in order to reproduce the operation of the German nuclear power plants from 1969 till 2022.
NFCSim code developed by LANL was adopted for this purpose.
It was estimated that ~10,300 tonnes of unreprocessed nuclear spent fuel will be generated until the shut-down of the ultimate German reactor.
This inventory will contain ~131 tonnes of plutonium, ~21 tonnes of minor actinides, and 440 tonnes of fission products.
Apart from this, ca.215 tonnes of vitrified HLW will be present.
As fission products and transuranium elements remain radioactive from 104 to 106 years, the characteristics of spent fuel legacy over this period are estimated, and their impacts on decay storage and final repository are discussed.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Schwenk-Ferrero, A.. 2013. German Spent Nuclear Fuel Legacy : Characteristics and High-Level Waste Management Issues. Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations،Vol. 2013, no. 2013, pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-461072
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Schwenk-Ferrero, A.. German Spent Nuclear Fuel Legacy : Characteristics and High-Level Waste Management Issues. Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations No. 2013 (2013), pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-461072
American Medical Association (AMA)
Schwenk-Ferrero, A.. German Spent Nuclear Fuel Legacy : Characteristics and High-Level Waste Management Issues. Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations. 2013. Vol. 2013, no. 2013, pp.1-11.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-461072
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-461072