The future development of Fission Reactors and their fuel cycles

by Prof. Günter Keßler (INR, FZK/KIT)

Tuesday 4 May 2010, 17:15 → 18:45 Europe/Berlin

The present technology of Light Water Reactors (LWRs), Heavy Water Reactors (HWRs, CANDUs) and High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors (HTRs) as well as Fast neutron Reactor (FRs) or Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs) will be further developed with regard to their fuel burnup, to their safety concept and to their fuel cycle concept. The reactor safety approach for present and future LWRs will be presented. Presently dominating LWRs and CANDUs are operated with intermediate storage and direct disposal of their spent fuel element (open fuel cycle in USA, Germany, Russia). For a smaller number of these present LWRs the spent fuel elements are reprocessed followed by plutonium recycling (closed fuel cycle in France, Japan). Research on actinide incineration lead to fuel cycle options with fuel elements containing - together with uranium or thorium-fissile isotopes like U-233, U-235, and transuranium elements (TRUs) like plutonium, neptunium and americium. Such fuel cycle options offer drastic improvements for the longterm radiological input of permanent spent fuel disposal and also improvements for proliferation resistance. FRs and ADSs with a closed fuel cycle are more efficient in destroying actinides than present thermal converter reactors (LWRs etc.). Although they were built and operated already in small numbers in Russia, France and Japan they will only be deployed to a larger extent during the second half of this century.