Status of spent fuel arising

The data presented, current and projected spent fuel inventories, is based on the Agency’s own statistics and forecasts for nuclear power generation. This data will be presented in terms of economic regions and on a worldwide basis.

2.2.1. Status of nuclear power

Currently the growth of nuclear power is at a standstill in Western Europe and North America, while expanding in parts of Asia and Eastern Europe. At the end of last year, 433 nuclear reactors were operating in 31 countries. They provided about 17 per cent of the global electricity supply. The total operating nuclear capacity was 349 GWe. There are 37 reactors under construction, which will provide an additional 31 GWe of capacity.

2.2.2. Global spent fuel arising

The total amount of spent fuel generated by the end of 2000 is expected to be close to 230,000 t HM (worldwide). The annual discharge rate is about 10,500 t HM.

Projections (Figure 2) indicate, that the amount generated by the year 2010 may be close to 340,000 t HM.

By 2020, the date by which most of the presently operated nuclear power reactors will be close to the end of their design operation life, the total quantity of spent fuel generated is expected to be of the order of 445,000 t HM.

Based on the assumption that the global reprocessing capacity is 4,000 tonnes per year, we can state that the current spent fuel inventory is around 35 times the reprocessing capacity.

Alternatively, it would take 35 years to reprocess all the spent fuel that has been stored to date.

2.2.3. Spent fuel storage in world regions

On a regional basis, the picture for current and projected spent fuel arising is given in Figure 3.

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1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

SF discharged SF reprocessed SF stored tHM

FIG. 2. Spent fuel worldwide discharged, reprocessed and stored.

By the end of 2000, the amount of the spent fuel that we expect to be in storage is:

− West Europe: about 32.5 kt HM,

− East Europe: about 22.8 kt HM,

− North and South America: about 72 kt HM,

− Asia and Africa: about 17.7 kt HM, The trends for the coming decades are:

− Western Europe storage inventories are predicted to remain around current levels, primarily as a result of reprocessing activities,

− Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe spent fuel volumes are predicted to double by 2010, this is at a rate greater than current discharge levels,

− In America spent fuel inventories are predicted to increase in-line with current discharge rates.

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Year

FIG. 3. Spent fuel stored by world regions.

2.2.4. Spent fuel storage according to storage type

Table X provides a summary of wet and dry storage capacity in Member States. The current global world storage capacity is slightly more than 239,000 t HM, and thus exceeds, by about 94,000 tonnes, the capacity needed by the end of 2000.

Table X. Spent fuel storage capacity by region

Region NPP pool

Western Europe 28,265 32,270 10,416 70,951

Eastern Europe 11,913 20,788 1,471 34,172

America 94,662 1,712 6,342 102,716

Asia & Africa 27,924 1,725 1,737 31,386

Total 162,764 56,495 19,966 239,225

In countries where storage capacity at nuclear power plants is becoming limited, one or more of the following options are being exercised: re-racking of the storage pools with high density racks, implementation of burnup credit, commissioning of AFR storage facilities.

Globally all types of storage facilities have excess capacity available. Figure 4 compares the capacities of the various storage types with their current inventories.

Table XI summarises the situation with respect to the construction of new storage facilities.

Total capacity by region ranges from 1.5 kt HM in Asia to 6.8 kt HM in America. The growth in storage capacity, some 13.9 kt HM, is in equilibrium with projected spent fuel arising. The Table also indicates the increasing preference for away form reactor dry storage systems.

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FIG. 4. Comparison of capacities and inventories of different types of spent fuel storage.

Table XI. Spent fuel storage capacity under construction

Eastern Europe 1,600 1,600

North America 6,800 6,800

Asia 700 800 1,500

Total 3,700 10,200 13,900

2.2.5. Balance between spent fuel arising and storage capacity

It is estimated that on a global scale the spent fuel arising will fill the existing storage facilities and those under construction by around the 2015 if additional facilities are not provided.

However, it is unrealistic that no new facilities will be provided on such a timescale. Figure 5 shows the predicted storage capacity by world regions.

Figure 5 shows the predicted storage capacities by world regions.

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1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

year

FIG. 5. Predicted storage capacities by world regions.

At a national level the situation differs from one country to the next and often from one utility to the other. In some cases, the storage pools are already full, occupied by spent fuel, allowing emergency core unloading only by special measures. Hence, additional storage capacity has to be installed in a timely fashion to restore normal operating capabilities. In other cases, additional storage capacity has to be provided to replace wet storage facilities, which cannot be refurbished, or continued safe operation is in question. In particular in some countries of

The preferred options are to extend the life of existing storage facilities (if their safety can be assured), then to adopt the dry storage concept where a new facility is required. In the later case, preference has been towards cask storage because of the shorter time to build, pay as you store, and building on previous licensing experiences.

Any further delay to decisions on the development of final repositories or new reprocessing plants’ operating licences will also lead to a higher demand for spent fuel storage capacity.

The storage time will be much longer than originally anticipated. In particular the “wait and see” policy leads to storage periods of undetermined duration. Proper engineering of such storage facilities, the corresponding selection of construction materials and operating processes will have to achieve the safety performance required, throughout the storage periods envisaged.