china_spent_fuel_management_and_reprocessing_draftfeb_2016.pdfVIP

  China’s Spent Nuclear Fuel Management: Current Practices and Future Strategies By Yun Zhou Working Paper March 2011 Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland 4113 Van Munching Hall, School of Public Policy 1  University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742   (301) 405-7601 Yun Zhou*1,2 1Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 2Center of International Security and Studies at Maryland, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, 4113 Van Munching Hall, MD, 20742, USA. CISSM’s Advanced Methods of Cooperative Security Program is generously supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. *Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-917-293-2114; fax: +1-617.495.8963; e-mail: yun_zhou@ 2    Abstract Although China’s nuclear power industry is relatively young and the management of its spent nuclear fuel is not yet a concern, China’s commitment to nuclear energy and its rapid pace of development require detailed analyses of its future spent fuel management policies. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of China’s fuel cycle program and its reprocessing policy, and to suggest strategies for managing its future fuel cycle program. The study is broken into four sections. The first reviews China’s current nuclear fuel cycle program and facilities. The second discusses China’s current spent fuel management methods and the storage capability of China’s 13 operational nuclear power plants. The third estimates China’s total cumulated spent fuel, its required spent fuel storage from present day until 2035, when China expects its first commercialized fast neutron reactors to be operational, and its likely demand for ura