『Abstract
Although China's nuclear power industry is relatively young and
the management of its spent nuclear fuel is not yet a concern.
China's commitment to nuclear energy and its rapid pace of development
require detailed analyses of its future spent fuel management
policies. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview
of China's fuel cycle program and its reprocessing policy, and
to suggest strategies for managing its future fuel cycle program.
The study is broken into four sections. The first reviews China's
current nuclear fuel cycle program and facilities. The second
discusses China's current spent fuel management methods and the
storage capability of China's 13 operational nuclear power plants.
The third estimates China's total accumulated spent fuel, its
required spent fuel storage from present day until 2035, when
China expects its first commercialized fast neutron reactors to
be operational, and its likely demand for uranium resources. The
fourth examines several spent fuel management scenarios for the
present period up until 2035; the financial cost and proliferation
risk of each scenario is evaluated. The study concludes that China
can and should maintain a reprocessing operation to meet its R&D
activities before its fast reactor program is further developed.
Keywords: China; Nuclear spent fuel; Reprocessing』
1. Introduction
2. International approaches and China's practices on spent fuel
management
2.1. Various approaches on spent nuclear fuel
2.2. China's current spent fuel storage
3. China's nuclear fuel cycle program and reprocessing policy
3.1. China's nuclear fuel cycle program
3.2. China's reprocessing policy
4. China's future uranium demand and access and spent fuel outputs
4.1. Future uranium demand in China
4.2. Potential domestic and oversea access to uranium
4.3. Future spent fuel management
5. China's future nuclear fuel cycling scenarios and analyses
5.1. China's future nuclear fuel cycling scenarios
5.2. Financing costs and proliferation risks
5.3. Potential delays and consequences
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
References