• Title/Summary/Keyword: Nuclear waste

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iKSNF, the Control Tower for the R&D Program of SNF Storage and Disposal

  • Kim, Kyungsu
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.255-258
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    • 2022
  • Three government bodies, that is, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE), and Nuclear Safety and Security (NSSC), jointly established the Institute for Korea Spent Nuclear Fuel (iKSNF) in December 2020 to secure the management technologies for spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The objective of iKSNF is to successfully conduct the long-term research and development program of the 「Development of Core Technologies to Ensure Safety of Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage and Disposal System」. Our program, known as the first multi-ministry program in the nuclear field of Korea, mainly focuses on developing core technologies required for the long-term management of SNF, including those for safe storage and deep geological disposal of SNF. The program comprises three subprograms and seven key projects covering the storage, disposal, and regulatory sectors of SNF management. Our program will last from 2021 through 2029, with a budget of approximately four billion USD sponsored by MSIT, MOTIE, and NSSC.

Novel homogeneous burnable poisons in pressurized water reactor ceramic fuel

  • Dodd, Brandon;Britt, Taylor;Lloyd, Cody;Shah, Manit;Goddard, Braden
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.52 no.12
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    • pp.2874-2879
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    • 2020
  • Due to excess reactivity, fresh nuclear fuel often contains burnable poisons. This research looks at six different burnable poisons and their impacts on reactivity, material attractiveness, and waste management. An MCNP simulation of a PWR fuel pin was performed with a fuel burnup of 60 GWd/MTHM to determine when each burnable poison fuel type would decrease below a k of 1. For determining the plutonium material attractiveness in each burnable poison fuel type, the plutonium isotopic content of the used fuel was evaluated using Bathke's Figure of Merit formula. For the waste management analysis, the thermal output of each burnable poison fuel type was determined through ORIGEN decay simulations at 100 and 300 years after being discharged from the core. The performance of all six burnable poisons varied over the three criteria considered and no single burnable poison performed best in all three considerations.

Long Term Trend of Uranium Production and Price

  • Hye-Jin Son;Su-Hyun Kang;Jong-Pil Jung;Chang-Lak Kim
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.295-301
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    • 2023
  • To broaden the utilization of nuclear energy, uranium as a fuel should be mined indispensably. Mining accounts for the largest portion of the cost of producing the uranium assembly. Therefore, this study analyzes the trends of uranium prices, which have a significant impacts on the mining cost. Uranium production contributing to the price fluctuations is explained in five periods from 1945 to the present. Moreover, the series of events affecting uranium prices from the 1970s until the present are verified. Among them, the most recent incidents considered in this study are the following: COVID-19 pandemic, Kazakhstan unrest, and Russia-Ukraine war. European countries have started to reconsider the transition to nuclear power to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas, which has contributed to the surge in uranium prices. Based on the results of this study, various international issues have been closely associated with the nuclear power industry and uranium, affecting the production of uranium and its price.