<UGM-RD-HW # 02 >

One third fuels of the core of a PWR are removed and replaced with fresh fuels
approximately one and half year (18months). For a nominal 1,000 PWR plant, each
reload requires about 48,000kg of 4.4w/o enriched UO2. If the feed to enrichment
plant is natural uranium, and the tails assay is 0.15 w/o,
(2-1) How much feed is required per reload?
(2-2) How much would the enrichment cost at the price of $200 per kg SWU?

a. Amount of Feed Uranium (Mf)

238
𝑀𝑝 = × 48.000
238 + 32
= 42.311 𝑘𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑢𝑚 − 238 𝑖𝑛 48.000 𝑘𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑈𝑂2
𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑥𝑝 = 0.044, 𝑥𝑓 = 0.00711 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥𝑡 = 0.0015
0.044−0.0015
Then 𝑀𝑓 = × 42.311 𝑘𝑔 = 320.537,8788 𝑘𝑔 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑
0.00711−0.0015
b. Cost for uranium enrichment
 Value Function
1 − 0.044
𝑣𝑝 (0.044) = (1 − 2(0.044))𝑙𝑛 ( ) = 2.8077
0.044
1 − 0.00711
𝑣𝑓 (0.00711) = (1 − 2(0.00711))𝑙𝑛 ( ) = 4.8688
0.00711
1 − 0.0015
𝑣𝑡 (0.0015) = (1 − 2(0.0015))𝑙𝑛 ( ) = 6.4813
0.0015
 Separative Work Unit
𝑆𝑊𝑈 = 𝑀𝑝 [𝑣𝑝 − 𝑣𝑡 ] − 𝑀𝑓 [𝑣𝑓 − 𝑣𝑡 ]
= 42.311 𝑘𝑔 × [2.8077 − 6.4813]
− 320.537.8788[4.8688 − 6.4813]
= 361.433,64 𝑘𝑔

 If per SWU there is $200, then

$200 × 361.433,64 𝑘𝑔
= $72.286.727,99 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡