Question

How much Uranium does it take to Power a 1250 Mw Thermal Reactor for one year? The electric Output is 520 Mwe.

the annual waste stream from a similarly-sized TAP MSR is reduced from 10 to 0.5 metric tons.

Bonus: How much does it cost to run 1 year for just the Uranium... Uranium constant $40/lb

Answer 1

Reactor capacity = 1250 Mw

On running for 1 year energy produced = 1250 x 10^ (+6) watts x 365 x 24 x 60 x60 secs

Now this energy should be equal to , where m is mass of U235 ; C = velocity of Light

m x 3 x (10 ^ 8) m/s x 3 X (10 ^ 8) m/s = 1250 x 10 ^ (+6) x 365 x 24 x 60 x 60 J

m = 0.438 Kg However in reality U to extant of 1% is only convertible, so we need 43.8 Kg

Here we assume that out of entire 43.8 Kgonly 0.438 Kg is only fissionable U 235.

cost of U235 = 43.8 Kg x $ 40 /0.45 Kg = $ 3890

This is not very high cost for the fuel. The actual cost incurred is in overheads.

The portion of your question regarding Trans Atomic power ( TAP) Molten State Reactor ( MSR) is not clear.. It is correct to state that these reactors produce 520 Mw. You are saying that waste is reduced in TAP MSR from 10 Tonnes to 0.5 Tonnes due to waste annihilating technology. It uses 96% of fuel, instead of 1% we assumed!