Wonil Ko

A STATISTICAL APPROACH FOR DERIVING KEY NFC EVALUATION CRITERIA

This study suggests 5 evaluation criteria (safety and technology, environmental impact, economic feasibility, social factors, and institutional factors) and 24 evaluation indicators for a NFC (nuclear fuel cycle) derived using factor analysis. To do so, a survey using 1 on 1 interview was given to nuclear energy experts and local residents who live near nuclear power plants. In addition, by conducting a factor analysis, homogeneous evaluation indicators were grouped with the same evaluation criteria, and unnecessary evaluation criteria and evaluation indicators were dropped out. As a result of analyzing the weight of evaluation criteria with the sample of nuclear power experts and the general public, both sides recognized safety as the most important evaluation criterion, and the social factors such as public acceptance appeared to be ranked as more important evaluation criteria by the nuclear energy experts than the general public.

ECONOMIC VIABILITY TO BeO-UO₂ FUEL BURNUP EXTENSION

This paper presents the quantitative analysis results of research on the burnup effect on the nuclear fuel cycle cost of BeO-UO₂ fuel. As a result of this analysis, if the burnup is 60 MWD/kg, which is the limit under South Korean regulations, the nuclear fuel cycle cost is 4.47 mills/kWh at 4.8wt% of Be content for the BeO-UO₂ fuel. It is, however, reduced to 3.70 mills/kWh at 5.4wt% of Be content if the burnup is 75MWD/kg. Therefore, it seems very advantageous, in terms of the economic aspect, to develop BeO-UO₂ fuel, which does not have any technical problem with its safety and is a high burnup & long life cycle nuclear fuel.