NuScale Power today announced the completion of a study commissioned from the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) supporting the suitability of the NuScale world-leading Small Modular Reactor technology for the effective disposition of plutonium.
The study evaluated scenarios with partial and full-core loading of mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel and confirmed that MOX could be used in the NuScale core with minimal effect on the reactor design and operation. The study also demonstrated that a 12-module NuScale plant with 100% MOX cores could consume a 100 metric-ton stockpile of discharged plutonium in roughly 40 years, during which time it would generate approximately 200 million megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity.
The NuScale Power Module is an innovative and flexible technology with the potential to be fueled by either conventional light water reactor fuel or MOX fuel. The reprocessing of plutonium into MOX fuel for civil nuclear reactors has been realized in several countries, including France, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany. The primary advantage of using MOX fuel is to use the huge energy content of plutonium and to degrade its isotopic composition making it much less attractive from a proliferation viewpoint. It also helps to improve fuel resource utilization by reducing the demand for enriched uranium.
NuScale CEO John Hopkins commented that this is an important step in the continued development of additional flexibility of the NuScale Power Module to operate on various fuel forms. This capability will help support the continued establishment of the NuScale Small Modular Reactor as the technology of choice for commercialization in worldwide markets.
AREVA Convert proposal, which would reprocess the UK stockpile of plutonium into MOX fuel using technology proven over 40 years in France. AREVA has been working with NuScale on the NuScale Power Module assemblies.
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