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In figure 1, the radiotoxicity in ALI/GW
a for the 4 HWR systems
as a function of time after discharge is presented. Clearly, the radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel for the MEU-THWR and HEU-THWR is lower for the first 40,000 years, but afterthat the radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel is higher than for the natural uranium fueled HWR. For the Pu-THWR, the radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel is higher at all times after discharge, which is of course due to the high radiotoxicity of the plutonium.
It is not fair to judge the Pu-THWR just on the basis of the
radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel, because the loaded fuel contains
already a high radiotoxicity. The amount of plutonium burned is 950 kg/GWa
which is a considerable amount. For instance, a PWR-MOX system burns about 300 kg/GWa for the first recycle.
For the natural uranium HWR, the uranium ore requirement is about 158 t/GWa,
whereas the uranium ore requirements for the MEU-THWR and HEU-THWR are equal to
400 t/GWa and 236 t/GWa, respectively. The uranium ore requirement for the Pu-THWR is zero.
Last reviewed: 3 February 2012
