Fuel Cycle and Waste Assignment

This assignment will help you understand the amount of fuel used in a typical 1 GW nuclear power plant, including its contribution to LCOE and its magnitude relative to fuel consumption by similar-capacity coal plants. It will also help you understand the amount of waste produced by such a plant, including how much waste we might produce if we scaled up nuclear power significantly, and approximately how much waste storage adds to the cost of nuclear power.

For each problem on this page, use the fact that one ton of uranium oxide fuel provides 50 GW-days of thermal energy.

Compute the cost of electricity (in units of $/kWh) from a nuclear power plant under the following assumptions. Fixed O&M is 75 $/kW-year. Variable O&M is $.0075/kWh Capital cost is $5500/kW capital charge factor is 10% Utilization is 85% Plant thermal efficiency is 35% Each ton of uranium oxide fuel provides 50 GW-days of thermal energy Fuel cost is $2,500,000 per ton.