How much does a pressurized water reactor cost?

How much does a pressurized water reactor cost?

Annual operating costs — labor, management, materials, and utilities — were estimated to be $36.5 million. From these estimates, the unit price for fabricating the fuel for the reference pressurized-water reactor was determined to be $138/kg of heavy metal or $63,600 per fuel assembly.

How long do reactor fuel rods last?

Your 12-foot-long fuel rod full of those uranium pellet, lasts about six years in a reactor, until the fission process uses that uranium fuel up.

Are Spent fuel rods still radioactive?

When fuel rods in a nuclear reactor are “spent,” or no longer usable, they are removed from the reactor core and replaced with fresh fuel rods. The spent fuel rods are still highly radioactive and continue to generate significant heat for decades.

Are Hanford reactors still active?

Today the Hanford site encompasses 586 square miles. Over time, the plutonium production complex grew to nine reactors, all now closed. Hanford is the site of the only operating nuclear power plant in the Northwest, the Columbia Generating Station operated by Energy Northwest.

How much does a uranium fuel rod cost?

Front end fuel cycle costs of 1 kg of uranium as UO2 fuel

Can a pressurized water reactor explode?

This could result in a meltdown of the reactor core. Because the steam generators are equipped with relief valves, a rupture of the primary coolant loop results in a radioactivity release that bypasses the containment structure with significant risk of a catastrophic accident.

Can you swim in a spent fuel pool?

If there’s corrosion in the spent fuel rod casings, there may be some fission products in the water. They do a pretty good job of keeping the water clean, and it wouldn’t hurt you to swim in it, but it’s radioactive enough that it wouldn’t be legal to sell it as bottled water.

How much does a nuclear fuel rod cost?

For a typical 1,000 MWe BWR or PWR, the approximate cost of fuel for one reload (replacing one third of the core) is about $40 million, based on an 18-month refueling cycle. The average fuel cost at a nuclear power plant in 2008 was 0.49 cents / kWh.

How often do fuel rods need to be replaced?

Typically, reactor operators change out about one-third of the reactor core (40 to 90 fuel assemblies) every 12 to 24 months.

How much is a ton of uranium worth?

UraniumCommodity