Research on Scenarios and Development Paths of China’s Commercial Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Abstract

China implements the established policy of closed nuclear fuel cycle for the sustainable development of nuclear power. However, there seems no feasible development plan and roadmap to initiate and deploy a commercial closed fuel cycle in China up to now. The industrialization of the nuclear fuel cycle requires gradual and phased progresses. Since most of the operating nuclear power plants in China are PWR units, and China implements and promotes a commercial closed nuclear fuel cycle, how to initiate a closed nuclear fuel cycle from the mature commercial pressurized water reactors is an unavoidable reality. Different from the implementation of closed nuclear fuel cycle reactors in countries such as France and Russia, the operating status and modes of PWRs in China are varied significantly. Most PWRs in China have implemented different plant modifications such as reactor power upgrading, core design and fuel management improvements with different new fuel types, different burnups and different cycle lengths, which have consumed certain degree of safety margins. These characteristics and differences bring challenges and difficulties to the implementation of a closed nuclear fuel cycle in China. Based on international experiences and China’s situation, this paper discusses the necessity of initiating a closed nuclear fuel cycle from mature commercial nuclear power plants in China as the initial stage of the closed fuel cycle to lay the foundation for the future advanced nuclear fuel cycle, analyze and discuss the initiating mode of China’s commercial closed nuclear fuel cycle, review the nuclear fuel types to be utilized in the closed nuclear fuel cycle, and discuss the possible configuration and development path of China’s closed fuel cycle in the future.