A roadmap for developing ATW technology: System scenarios & integration

A roadmap has been established for development of ATW Technology. The roadm ap defines a reference system along with preferred technologies, which requ ire further development to reduce technical risk, associated deployment sce narios, acid a detailed plan of necessary R&D to support implementation of this technology. The potential for international collaboration is discussed which has the potential to reduce the cost of the program. A reference ATW plant design was established to ensure consistent discussion of technical and life cycle cost issues. Over 60 years of operation, a reference ATW pla nt would process about 10.000 tn of spent nuclear reactor fuel. This is in comparison to the current inventory U.S. of about 40,000 tn of spent fuel a nd the projected inventory of about 86,000 tn of spent fuel if all currentl y licensed nuclear power plants run until their license expire, The referen ce ATW plant was used together with an assumed scenario of no new nuclear p lant orders in the U.S. to generate a deployment scenario for ATW. In the R &D roadmap, key technical issues are identified. and timescales are propose d for the resolution of these issues. A key recommendation is that, in the first year of any ATW program, trade studies intended to confirm technology choices and optimization of design be conducted. These studies will then b e used to define future R&D. International collaboration will be important in this endeavor. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.