INPRO economic assessment of the IRIS nuclear reactor for deployment in Brazil

This paper presents the results of the economic assessment of the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) for deployment in Brazil using the assessment methodology developed under the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO), co-ordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). INPRO initiated in 2001 and has the main objective of helping to ensure that nuclear energy will be available to contribute in a sustainable manner to the energy needs of the 21st century. Among its missions is the development of a methodology to assess innovative nuclear energy systems (INSs) on a global, regional and national basis. In 2005, Brazil submitted a proposal for the assessment of two small-size reactors as components of an INS, completed with a conventional open nuclear fuel cycle based on enriched uranium. One of the reactors assessed was IRIS, a small-size, modular, integral-type PWR reactor. IRIS was evaluated with regard to the areas of reactor safety and economics only. This paper outlines the rationale for the study and summarizes the results of the economic assessment. The study concluded that the reference design of IRIS complies with most of INPRO economics criteria and has potential to comply with the remaining ones.