Sunday, December 8, 2013

Nuclear fuel facts

Uranium is a relatively common element that is found throughout the world. It is mined in a number of countries and must be enriched before it can be used as fuel for a nuclear reactor or in nuclear weapons. Uranium enrichment is process of increasing U-235 isotope concentration from uranium ore which contains only 0.711% of U-235.

Nuclear fuels are widely used: nuclear power plants, nuclear bombs and other weapons, medical applications, nuclear submarines and carriers, space probes and robots, research, ...

There are two major types of currently active reactors: Pressurized water reactors (PWR) and Boiling water reactors (BWR). Those reactors need uranium to be enriched from 3.5% to 5%.

As mentioned, uranium is relatively common element and currently confirmed uranium reserves will last at least 200 years at current rates of consumption according to predictions from Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA).

Another element used in nuclear power plants and weapons is plutonium. Plutonium is very rare element and it is found only in trace quantities in nature so there is no plutonium mining. Plutonium is produced as byproduct in PWR and BWR nuclear reactors. A 1000 MWe light water reactor produces up to 25 tonnes of used fuel per year, containing up to 290 kilograms of plutonium. If the plutonium is extracted from used fuel it can be used as a direct substitute for U-235 (mainly P-239).

Thorium is also element which can be used as nuclear fuel, but currently it is not used in mainstream reactors. A thorium fuel cycle offers several advantages: much greater abundance on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. However, it suffers from higher production and processing costs, and lacks significant weaponization potential.

Uranium, plutonium and thorium are nuclear fuels for nuclear fission (splitting atoms). For fusion (joining atoms) number of light elements can be used, but currently deuterium-tritium (D-T) reaction has been identified as the most efficient for fusion devices. Deuterium and tritium are hydrogen isotopes (H-2 and H-3).
Typical uranium mine
Fuel removed from a reactor, after it has reached the end of its useful life, can be reprocessed to produce new fuel. Used fuel typically has around 0.9% of unused U-235 isotope and this can be used in CANDU nuclear power plants. CANDU is short for CANada Deuterium Uranium and those reactors can use natural (0.711% U-235) or low enriched uranium as fuel.  CANDU is also known as Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR).

Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. The worldwide production of uranium in 2012 amounted to 58,395 tonnes. Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia are the top three producers and together account for 64% of world uranium production.

According to World Nuclear Association China plans huge expansion in nuclear energy sector. They plan to extend number of nuclear reactors from 17 currently in operation to over 200 reactors in next decades. This new demand for uranium will make huge impact on nuclear fuel markets, possibly increasing electricity price from nuclear power plants.

Little known fact is that space probes Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and some others use nuclear fuel to generate electricity to run instruments. They use plutonium-238 powered batteries in which radioactive decay generates heat needed to generate electricity.  Those batteries are also known as radioisotope thermoelectric generators – RTGs.

The United States stopped producing plutonium-238 in 1988 and since 1993 all of the plutonium-238 used in American spacecraft has been purchased from Russia. Russia is also no longer producing plutonium-238 and their supply is reportedly running low. For new robotic space missions someone will have to restart plutonium-238 production because all other battery types are not even close to replace RTGs.

Used nuclear fuel after all processing is called radioactive/nuclear waste. Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to most forms of life and the environment.

Nuclear bombs use high enriched uranium with more than 90% of U-235. After negotiations between Russia and USA part of nuclear arsenal was dismounted and nuclear fuel has been converted to low enriched uranium and made available for nuclear power plants.

First nuclear bomb used in warfare was uranium based bomb called Little Boy. Little Boy was dropped and exploded over Hiroshima, directly killing 90,000 – 166,000 people. Second (and fortunately last) nuclear bomb used in war was plutonium (6.2 kilograms, 14 lb) based bomb called Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki directly killing 60,000 – 80,000 people. Also a lot died in following months.

Some relevant nuclear fuel data:

Uranium production (2012) - table:
Tonnes Pounds (x1000) %
Kazakhstan 21,317 46,996 36.50%
Canada 8,999 19,839 15.41%
Australia 6,991 15,412 11.97%
Niger (est) 4,667 10,289 7.99%
Namibia 4,495 9,910 7.70%
Russia 2,872 6,332 4.92%
Uzbekistan 2,400 5,291 4.11%
USA 1,596 3,519 2.73%
China (est) 1,500 3,307 2.57%
Malawi 1,101 2,427 1.89%
Ukraine (est) 960 2,116 1.64%
South Africa 465 1,025 0.80%
India (est) 385 849 0.66%
Brazil 231 509 0.40%
Czech Republic 228 503 0.39%
Romania (est) 90 198 0.15%
Germany 50 110 0.09%
Pakistan (est) 45 99 0.08%
France 3 7 0.01%
World total: 58,395 128,739 100.00%

Uranium world reserves (2011) - Table:
Tonnes
Pounds (x1000)
%
Australia
1,661,000 3,661,874 31.18%
Kazakhstan 629,000 1,386,706 11.81%
Russia 487,200 1,074,091 9.15%
Canada 468,700 1,033,305 8.80%
Niger 421,000 928,145 7.90%
South Africa 279,100 615,309 5.24%
Brazil 276,700 610,018 5.19%
Namibia 261,000 575,406 4.90%
USA 207,400 457,238 3.89%
China 166,100 366,187 3.12%
Ukraine 119,600 263,673 2.25%
Uzbekistan 96,200 212,084 1.81%
Mongolia 55,700 122,797 1.05%
Jordan 33,800 74,516 0.63%
Others 164,000 361,558 3.08%
World total:
5,326,500 11,742,908 100.00%

World uranium consumption (2013) - Table:
Tonnes
Pounds (x1000)
%
USA
19622 43,259 30.16%
France 9320 20,547 14.32%
China 6711 14,795 10.31%
Russia 5090 11,222 7.82%
Korea RO (South) 4218 9,299 6.48%
Ukraine 2352 5,185 3.61%
Germany 1889 4,165 2.90%
United Kingdom 1828 4,030 2.81%
Canada 1764 3,889 2.71%
Sweden 1505 3,318 2.31%
Spain 1357 2,992 2.09%
India 1326 2,923 2.04%
Taiwan 1232 2,716 1.89%
Finland 1127 2,485 1.73%
Belgium 1017 2,242 1.56%
Slovakia 675 1,488 1.04%
Czech Republic 574 1,265 0.88%
Switzerland 521 1,149 0.80%
Japan 366 807 0.56%
Hungary 357 787 0.55%
Brazil 321 708 0.49%
Bulgaria 317 699 0.49%
South Africa 305 672 0.47%
Mexico 270 595 0.41%
Argentina 212 467 0.33%
Romania 177 390 0.27%
Iran 172 379 0.26%
Slovenia 137 302 0.21%
Pakistan 117 258 0.18%
Netherlands 103 227 0.16%
Armenia 86 190 0.13%
World total:
65,068 143,450 100.00%

Uranium enrichment levels and uses:

1 comment:

AndreasOh said...

Disgusting. Show some mining operations on Native American Land! Bet you won't. Disposal and remnants from all the thousands and thousands of atmospheric tests done over the last 60 years. And while I am at it, any thoughts on Fukushima?