Parametric Study of Front-End Nuclear Fuel Cycle Costs Using ...

Impact of Changes in Front-End Fuel Cycle Unit Costs on Overall Fuel Cycle Cost
14
12
Fuel Cycle Cost (mills/kwhe)
10
8
6
4
RepU Init. Enr: 0.5%
RepU Init. Enr: 0.7%
RepU Init Enr: 1.1%
2
0
$30 $60 $90 $120 $150
U3O8 Unit Cost ($/lb U3O8)
Natural Uranium Fuel Cycle Cost RepU Initial Enrichment 0.5% RepU Initial Enrichment 0.7% RepU Initial Enrichment 1.1%
Figure 3-6
Comparison of Front-End Fuel Cycle Cost for NatU LWR Fuel and RepU LWR Fuel as a
Function of Natural Uranium Unit Cost and RepU Initial Enrichment
3.8 Changes in the Unit Costs of Conversion Services and Enrichment
Services
Assuming that the unit costs for other front-end fuel cycle components remain at the nominal
values described in Section 2, EPRI varies the unit costs for NatU conversion services from
$5/kgU to $20/kgU as UF 6
and the unit costs for enrichment services from $90/SWU to
$210/SWU. The corresponding unit costs for RepU conversion services are assumed to be four
times higher than those for NatU, ranging from $20/kgU to $80/kgU as UF 6
and the unit costs for
RepU enrichment are assumed to be 30% higher than those for NatU, ranging from $117/SWU
to $273/SWU. The results are summarized in Table 3-3 and presented in Figure 3-7.
As discussed in Section 3.2, RepU fuel cycle costs are lower than NatU fuel cycle costs when a
15% enrichment services premium was assumed. Thus, EPRI utilized a 30% enrichment
services premium in this scenario in addition to a higher conversion services premium in order to
determine the combination of enrichment and conversions services cost premiums at which the
use of RepU may not be cost effective.
3-9