Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mphil-in-nuclear-energy-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-ne4/1/c/solution
Past exam of the MPhil in nuclear energy course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Module NE4 1 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Use the recovered uranium inventory, rather than the initial fuel mass, as the recycle feed. Its available mass isAssuming the same enrichment tails assay and the specified higher recycled-fuel assay, the isotopic mass balance givesTreat this fuel as replacing the same heavy-metal mass of ordinary fresh fuel: the stipulated higher uranium-235 content compensates for uranium-236. The displaced natural feed isabout 12.63% of the once-through natural-uranium requirement. The residual natural feed demand is .
For separative work accounting defineUsing kilograms in this expression gives kg-SWU. For ordinary fresh fuel the work per product kilogram isThe fresh work avoided by substituting is , but producing that recycled product still requiresHence the net saving isThe work saving is only about 0.786% of the original annual separative work. Crediting the whole avoided fresh-fuel work without charging the recycle work would substantially overstate the saving. This is an annual resource account at the supplied assays, with no isotope-separation equipment model.
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