The discussion focuses on the composition of transuranics in commercial Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent fuel after cycling and dry cask storage. It highlights that there is no typical PWR spent fuel composition due to varying fuel cycle strategies among utilities, with discharge burnups averaging around 55 +/- 5 GWd/tU. Key resources include the OECD document on burnup and the ORNL data in conjunction with the ORIGEN/SCALE package, specifically referencing Table 1, 3, and Figure 7 from the SOAR report on nuclear fuel cycle chemistry.
PREREQUISITESNuclear engineers, waste management specialists, and researchers in nuclear fuel cycle chemistry will benefit from this discussion, particularly those focused on spent fuel composition and storage strategies.
Astronuc said:There isn't a typical example of PWR spent fuel, because each utility has a different fuel cycle strategy. But discharge burnups are around 55 +/- 5 GWd/tU.
See page 51 of this document - https://www.oecd-nea.org/science/pubs/2006/nea6224-burn-up.pdf
In the US, it's usually the older cooler fuel that gets placed in dry storage, but sometime more recent high burnup fuel will be mixed with older cooler fuel of lower burnup.
ORNL has published some data on spent fuel in conjunction with the ORIGEN/SCALE package.
Very good reference: See Table 1, 3 and Figure 7 and list of references
https://www.oecd-nea.org/science/wpncs/ADSNF/SOAR_final.pdf
SOAR on Progress of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Chemistry