Advertisement
Published in:
2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
16. Fuel Burnup and Fuel Management
Author : Bahman Zohuri
Published in: Neutronic Analysis For Nuclear Reactor Systems
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.
Select sections of text to find matching patents with Artificial Intelligence. powered by
Select sections of text to find additional relevant content using AI-assisted search. powered by
Abstract
Nuclear fuel is removed from a reactor every few years when it can no longer economically keep a chain reaction going. This “spent” fuel remains radioactive and must be managed. At first, it goes into a pool on-site for cooling and storage. Some utilities are moving their spent fuel after several years in the pool into the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certified dry storage casks. These casks are specially designed to contain the radioactivity and allow hot spent fuel to cool further. In contrast to fossil fuel, the fuel in nuclear reactors cannot be converted since the fuel undergoes changes during its use in the reactor, which require the fuel elements to be exchanged.