Techno-Economic Assessment of Fuel Cycle Facility of System Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor (SMART)

Abstract

The economic assessment of advanced nuclear power reactors is very important, specifically during the early stages of concept design. Therefore, a study was performed to calculate the total cost estimation of fuel cycle supply for a system modular advanced reactor (SMART) by using the Generation-IV economic program called G4-ECONS (Generation 4 Excel-based Calculation of Nuclear Systems). In this study, the detailed description of each model and methodology are presented including facility, operations, construction matrix, post-production model, and fuel cycle cost estimation model. Based on these models, six Generation-III+ and Generation-IV nuclear reactors were simulated, namely System 80+ with benchmark data, System 80+ with uranium oxide (UOx) and mixed oxide (MOx) fuel assemblies, fast reactor, PBMR (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor), and PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor), with partially closed and benchmarked cases. The total levelized costs of these reactors were obtained, and it was observed that PBMR showed the lowest cost. The research was extended to work on the SMART reactor to calculate the total levelized fuel cycle cost, capital cost, capital component cost, fraction of capital spent, and sine curve spent pattern. To date, no work is being reported to calculate these parameters for the SMART reactor. It was observed that SMART is the most cost-effective reactor system among other proven and advanced pressurized water-based reactor systems. The main objective of the research is to verify and validate the G4-ECONS model to be used for other innovative nuclear reactors.