Calculated demonstration of VVER-1000 SNF actinide transmutation efficiency

Abstract

A simple numerical example suffices to demonstrate the scale of the change in the potential biological hazard when removing actinides from the spent nuclear fuel of a VVER-1000 reactor and the effect of uranium and transuranium element transmutation. The calculations assumed the complete removal of these actinides from the spent nuclear fuel, which can be considered as an ideal estimate. Without transmutation, the radiation equivalence of spent VVER nuclear fuel with consumed uranium raw materials is achieved only after 100 thousand years of exposure. The calculation shows how the time of achieving the radiation equivalence changes when removing certain components of spent nuclear fuel. In particular, if elements from uranium to curium, as well as caesium and strontium, are excluded from landfilled wastes—and, at the same time, thorium and radium accompanying natural uranium—are transmuted, then radiation equivalence is achieved at the complete combustion of the entire volume of mined uranium raw materials over approximately 150 years.