Regional and world level scenarios for sodium fast reactor deployment

The revival of interest towards fast neutron reactors is due to their capability of producing more fissile material than they consume and of reducing the burden on the disposal of high-level waste containing very-long life nuclides.Several studies on the impact of transition scenarios have been launched by international and national organizations. They show that the relevance of transitioning to fast reactors depends on the expected future role of nuclear energy and on the development of advanced nuclear technologies.The purpose of the present study is to investigate the maximum deployable capacity of sodium-cooled fast reactors at regional and world levels mainly from the viewpoint of natural uranium and fissile plutonium availability for presumed energy demand projections. The calculations have been performed with the DESAE code.The results show that the maximum deployable capacity of sodium-cooled reactors at regional level is not limited by the plutonium and uranium availability with a reprocessing capacity of 3000 t/yr, whereas for a global scenario it strongly depends on the availability of natural uranium resources and plutonium stockpiles.