TheAREVAHTRfuelcycle:AnanalysisoftechnicalissuesandpotentialindustrialsolutionsOriginalResearchArticle

TheAREVAhightemperaturereactor(HTR)isamodular600MWthightemperaturegas-cooledreactorthatprovidesupto950°Cprocessheliumforpowergenerationand/orhydrogenproduction.EnergyfacilitiesbasedonthistechnologywillconsistofuptofourAREVAHTRmodulesachievinghighthermodynamicefficiencywithatotalpossibleelectricalgenerationcapabilityof1200MWe.AttheheartoftheAREVAHTRistheTRISO-coatedlow-enricheduranium(LEU)fuelwhichisassembledintofuelcompactsthatareinsertedintoprismaticgraphitefuelelements. TheintentofthispaperistoexaminetheAREVAHTRfuelandfuelcyclefromtwoperspectives.First,fromthe“front-end”perspective,theavailablefuelcycle-relatedoptionsareexaminedalongwiththebasisforthesubsequentchoiceoffueltypeandcycle.Second,fromthe“back-end”perspective,thegenerationandmanagementofspentfuelandgraphitewasteisexaminedalongwiththestrategiesandoptionsavailablefordispositionordisposal. TheAREVAHTRhastheinherentflexibilitytoaccommodatemanyfueltypesandtopermitfullcost-effectiveoptimization.Thereasonsforthisflexibilityarepresentedandthemainadvantagesanddisadvantagesofthevariousfuelscyclearediscussed.ThereferencefuelcyclefortheAREVAHTRisthenintroducedanditsmainfeaturesaregiven.Additionally,non-proliferationattributesoftheAREVAHTRtechnologyarealsoexamined. TheamountofspentfuelandgraphitewastegeneratedbytheAREVAHTRisgovernedbytheburn-upcapabilityofthefuelandthelongevityoftheadjacentgraphitereflectorblocks.Ascurrentlyenvisioned,theAREVAHTRwillneedtoberefueledevery18months,with50%ofthecorebeingreplaced.Additionally,thegraphitereflectorblockswillneedtobereplacedatregularintervals.Givena60-yeardesignlife,approximately20,000spentfuelelementsand10,000graphitereflectorsblockswillbegenerated.Thenear-termandlong-termoptionsfordealingwiththesewastestreamsareexaminedand,aswiththefrontendofthefuelcycle,areferencestrategyforspentfuelandgraphitewasteproposed.