Economic Analysis on Direct Use of Spent Pressurized Water Reactor Fuel in CANDU Reactors III: Spent DUPIC Fuel Disposal Cost

The disposal costs of spent pressurized water reactor (PWR), Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactor, and DUPIC fuels have been estimated based on available literature data and the engineering design of a spent CANDU fuel disposal facility by the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. The cost estimation was carried out by the normalization concept of total electricity generation. Therefore, the future electricity generation scale was analyzed to evaluate the appropriate capacity of the high-level waste disposal facility in Korea, which is a key parameter of the disposal cost estimation. Based on the total electricity generation scale, it is concluded that the disposal unit costs for spent CANDU natural uranium, CANDU-DUPIC, and PWR fuels are 192.3, 388.5, and 696.5 $/kg heavy element, respectively.