Cost–benefit analysis of BeO–UO2 nuclear fuel

This paper provides the results of a cost–benefit analysis for BeO–UO2 nuclear fuel, material that contains a small volume fraction of Be in uranium oxide matrix. According to the cost–benefit analysis results, the optimized BeO content was about 4.8 wt% when the BeO and uranium oxide prices were assumed to be $317/kg and $64/kg, respectively. The benefit of increasing the thermal conductivity of BeO–UO2 fuel was greater than the burden of the expensive BeO material price if the BeO content was 4.8 wt%. In addition, the break-even point of the nuclear fuel cycle cost as a function of the burn-up was 4.4 mills/kWh when compared economically between BeO–UO2 fuel and UO2 fuel. Therefore, BeO–UO2 fuel seems economically efficient when the burn-up is more than 60 MWD/kg because the nuclear fuel cycle cost of BeO–UO2 fuel was lower than that of UO2 fuel.