Hinkley C Reactor

Well reported EPR vessel casting issues and cost overruns at the other two EPR sites being Flamanville & Olkiluoto

http://www.epr-reactor.co.uk/scripts/ssmod/publigen/content/templates/Show.asp?P=57&L=EN

Currently fuel in cladding is reprocessed as the burnup is limited  by cladding

Fuel Burn-up
As a bounding case RWMD has assumed that all UK EPR fuel assemblies would be subjected to the maximum burn-up of 65 GWd/tU which tends to overestimate the total heat output and radionuclide inventories of the spent fuel by about 30% compared to the average burn-up of the UK EPR fuel assemblies, which is expected to be around 48 GWd/tU.

Clad Failures
For the purposes of defining a worst-case radionuclide inventory of intermediate level operational waste streams, RWMD has assumed that the reactor primary circuit is contaminated by actinides and fission products escaping from a failed fuel assembly. RWMD has based its calculations on the pessimistic assumption that the reactor runs at all times with one failed fuel assembly.  For reasons of waste minimisation and operational efficiency the UK EPR would not operate in this way and serious clad failures would result in the removal and replacement of the faulty fuel assembly.

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UK EPR REACTOR AND CORE

Better Choices Breed & Burn Current Waste

personal prefer a IFR built on from LFTR as molten salt reactor or a lead cooled reactor, prefer atmospheric pressure non sodium -as Sodium cooled a fire Hazard.

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IAEA Nuclear Energy Series Technical Reports Impact of High Burnup Uranium Oxide and Mixed Uranium– Plutonium Oxide Water Reactor Fuel on Spent Fuel Management

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Physics of Breed and Burn Nuclear Reactors

 

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US Lead Cooled Fast Reactor

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PRISM: A COMPETITIVE SMALL MODULAR SODIUM-COOLED REACTOR