Nuclear Fuel Cycle Economics

Over the past several years there has been considerable discussion of comparative economics of the "once-through" nuclear fuel cycle and the "closed" fuel cycle as such apply to light water reactors. The "once-through" fuel cycle is illustrated in Figure 1, and is uniquely characterized by the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and its contained uranium and plutonium values. The "closed" fuel cycle is illustrated in Figure 2, and is uniquely characterized by the recovery and recycle of the unburned uranium and by-product plutonium contained in the spent fuel. A variation to the "closed" fuel cycle involves the reprocessing of spent fuel, recycle of recovered uranium, and use of recovered plutonium in breeder reactor development and demonstration programs. This paper will briefly discuss the current comparative economics of these fuel cycles and the sensitivity of the economics to prospective future changes in costs for individual steps in the nuclear fuel cycle.