Economical Feedback of Increasing Fuel Enrichment on Electricity Cost for VVER-1000

Abstract

A methodology of evaluating the economics of the front-end nuclear fuel cycle with a price change sensitivity analysis for a VVER-1000 reactor core as a case study is presented. The effect of increasing the fuel enrichment and its corresponding reactor cycle length on the energy cost is investigated. The enrichment component was found to represent the highly expenses dynamic component affecting the economics of the front-end fuel cycle. Nevertheless, the increase of the fuel enrichment will increase the reactor cycle length, which will have a positive feedback on the electricity generation cost (cent/KWh). A long reactor operation time with a cheaper energy cost set the nuclear energy as a competitive alternative when compared with other energy sources.