Fundamentals of reactor physics with a view to the (possible) futures of nuclear energy

Publication date: Available online 18 October 2017 Source:Comptes Rendus Physique Author(s): Xavier Doligez, Sandra Bouneau, Sylvain David, Marc Ernoult, Abdoul-Aziz Zakari-Issoufou, Nicolas Thiollière, Adrien Bidaud, Olivier Méplan, Alexis Nuttin, Nicolas Capellan This paper present basic nuclear reactor physics that may help to understand next challenges that nuclear industry have to face in the future. The ones considered in this work are waste production and natural resources consumption. This paper shows that waste and resources are linked by the plutonium status that could be considered as the principal waste or a valuable material that should be saved for a future transition to breeder reactors that could be for instance Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs). This kind of reactors does not rely on natural resource supply, as it produces its own fissile material, plutonium-239, after a neutron capture on uranium-238. However, the operation of SFRs needs a huge amount of plutonium that should be produced in current Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). Natural uranium available on earth is expected to allow the operation of the global current fleet until approximately 2100 without major issues. The transition from PWRs to SFRs is then needed if and only if the nuclear industry will face an increase at a global scale during this century. If not, plutonium, the most radiotoxic element produced in PWRs, should be considered as a waste. Consequently, the plutonium st...

Source: Comptes Rendus Physique - October 18, 2017 Category: Physics Source Type: research