ORNL-5388 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

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1. Nuclear power is limited to low-enriched uranium-fueled (LEU) thermal reactors operat-
ing on a stowaway cycle (included to allow comparisons with current policy).
2. LEU reactors with uranium recycle are operated outside secure energy centers and thermal
reactors with plutonium recycle are operated inside the centers.
3. Same as Scenario 2 plus fast breeder reactors (FBRs) operating on the Pu/U cycle are
deployed within the centers.
4. LEU reactors and denatured 235U and denatured 233U reactors are operated with uranium
5.
recycle, all in dispersed areas; no plutonium recycle is permitted.
Same as Scenario 4 plus thermal reactors operating on the Pu/Th cycle are permitted
within secure energy centers,
6. - Same as Scenario 5 plus FBRs with Pu/U cores and thorium blankets ("light" transmuta-
7.
8.
tion reactors) are permitted within secure energy centers.
Same as Scenario 6 plus denatured FBRs with 233U/238U cores and thorium blankets are
permitted in dispersed areas.
The "light" transmutation FBRs of Scenario 7 are replaced with "heavy" transmutation
reactors with Pu/Th cores and thorium blankets.
2.3. SOME INSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE DENATURED FUEL CYCLE
As stated above, the implementation of the denatured fuel cycle will entail the
creation of fuel cycle/energy centers, which will require institutional arrangements to
manage and control such facilities.
The advantages and disadvantages of such centers,
whether they be regional, multinational, or international, as well as the mechanisms re-
quired for their implementation, have been rep0rted.3'~ Although a detailed enumeration of
the conclusions of such studies are beyond the scope of this particular discussion, certain
aspects of the energy center concept as it relates to the denatured fuel cycle are relevant.
Since only a few thousand kilograms of 233U currently exist, it is clear that
production of 2% will be required prior to full-scale deployment of the denatured 233U
cycle.
If the reserves of economically recoverable natural uranium are allowed to become
extremely limited before the denatured cycle is implemented, most if not all power produced
at that time would be from energy-center transmuters. Such a situation is clearly
inconsistent with the principle that the number of such centers and the percentage of
total power produced in them be minimized. A gradual transition in which 235U-ba~ed
dispersed reactors are replaced with denatured 23 %-based dispersed reactors and their
accompanying energy-center transmuter systems is thus desirable.
The proposed denatured fuel cycle/energy center scenario also presents an additional
dimension in the formulation of the energy policies of national states - that of nuclear
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interdependence. By the very nature of the proposed symbiotic relationship inherent in