Modeling Open Nuclear Fuel Cycle for Nuclear Power Plant in Nigeria: A Case Study of VVER-1200 and HPR-1000

Abstract

Nuclear power plants vary based on their technology, design and material composition of the various components of the reactor. Nigeria's decision to adopt nuclear technology for power generation presents the need for comparison of the different types of nuclear power plants based on waste generation, to help in choosing which of the reactors to adopt using Open Fuel Cycle, knowing that the generation of waste during the lifetime and operation of a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is a point of concern to the Nuclear Industry. This study models and compares the waste (spent fuel) generated by the Chinese Hualong pressurized water reactor HPR-1000 and the Russian pressurized water Energy reactor VVER-1200. A reference energy system model based on MESSAGE was developed for Nigeria using the HPR-1000 and VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors and with the entire national electricity system simplified and modeled as a single grid system. The reference energy system was simulated with MESSAGE software to obtain steady-state material balance at the optimum over the life (60 years) of the nuclear power plant and the results were validated with analytical computations. The results show that the annual fresh fuel requirements, and consequently the annual spent fuel discharged, were 20.89 t HM and 23.579 t HM for VVER-1200 and HPR-1000 respectively, such that during the life of the Plant, the VVER-1200 would have accumulated 1044.5 t HM of spent fuel (nuclear waste), while the HPR-1000 would have accumulated 1178 t HM of spent fuel. This difference amounts to a 13% increase in spent fuel (nuclear waste) for HPR-1000 compared to VVER- 1200, which will consequently increase the cost of waste management and disaster risk by the same margin. It is therefore recommended that VVER-1200 is the preferred Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor for Nigeria Nuclear Power Project, since it produces less spent fuel or nuclear waste and will hence minimize the cost of storage or containment of such wastes and the possible risk in disaster situations.