ORNL-5388 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

8-2
The fuel fabrication costs for the various reactor types are shown in Table B-5 as a
function of time beginning with the expected introduction date for a particular reactor and
fuel design. If a particular reactor and fuel design should prove successful, fabrication
costs should decrease as larger plants with higher throughput rates are constructed. The
decrease in fabrication costs over the first decade after introduction is simply indicative
of a transition from small fabrication plants with high unit costs to larger fabrication
plants with lower unit costs. These costs are a strong function of the fissile isotope and
a weak function of the fertile isotope.
The sensitivity to the fissile isotope is caused
either by the spontaneous fission associated with high-exposure fissile plutonium or by the
gamma activity associated with high-exposure 233U. The costs are based on the assumption
that fuels containing 23% are fabricated on a line with contact operation and contact
maintenance, fuels containing fissile plutonium are fabricated on a line with remote
operation and contact maintenance, and fuels containing 233() are fabricated on a line with
both remote operation and remote maintenance. The expected variations in fuel fabrication
costs (cost uncertainties given in footnote b of Table 8-5) represent the upper and lower
cost boundaries anticipated for fabrication costs and are expressed as percentages. For
example, the expected fabrication cost for plutonium-bearing LWR fuel with uncertainties
applied ranges from $306 per kg HM (-10% of reference) to $510 per kg HM (+50% of reference)
for year 2001 and beyond.
Table 8-3. Power Plant Operation
and Maintenance Costs
{=[Fixed +(Variable x Capacity Factora)]xPower}
Fixed Cost
Power Plant Type ($/kWe-yr)b Va r 3ab 1 e
LWR 3.6 1.9
SSCR 4.8 1.9
HWR 8.4 1.9
HTGR 3.6 1.4
FBR 4.1 2.3
a
See Table B-9 for capacity factors.
bBased on 1/1/77 dollars.
Table 8-4. Minor Reactor Costs
Property Insurance Rate 0.0025
Capital Replacement Rate 0.0035
Nuclear Liability 58 x lo4 $/yr
The expected reprocessing costs are
shown in Table 8-6. These costs were obtained
by estimating the capital and operating costs
associated with each of five stages of the
reprocessing process. The stages were:
headend, solvent extraction, product conver-
sion, off-gas treatment, and waste treatment.
The costs are shown as a function of time
reflecting the transition from a new industry
consisting of small plants with high unit
costs to a mature industry consisting of
larger plants with lower unit costs. The
expected costs for spent fuel shipping, waste
shipping, and waste storage are also included
in Table 8-6, as well as the total costs for
all these processes. The tptal cost uncer-
tainty factor for all fuel types is estimated
to be a 50% increase for the reference values.
Thus, the total reprocessing cost for LWR fuel
with the uncertainty included ranges from $220
to $330 per kg HM for year 2001 and beyond.
It should be noted that it is assumed here
that a policy decision will have been made in
time for the first reprocessing plant to be
in operation by 1991. All fuel discharged
from the reactor prior to this date is
u
L
L
L
c
L
L