Document: NUREG-1555
Document ID: e6522906-ea8a-4279-a417-3ba3eec01014
Document Type: esrp
Title: URANIUM FUEL CYCLE IMPACTS
Source: NUREG-1555
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1555/initial/
Revision Date: 2007-10
Chapter: 5
Section ID: 5.7
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Content:
energy to the enrichment step of this cycle. Of the total annual requirement of 43 × 106 m3 (11.4 × 109 gal), about 42 × 106 m3 are required October 1999 5.7-7 NUREG-1555 for this purpose, assuming that these plants use once through cooling. Other water uses involve the discharge to air (e.g., evaporation losses in process cooling) of about 0.6 × 106 m3 per year and water discharged to ground (e.g., mine drainage) of about 0.5 × 106 m3 per year. On a thermal effluent basis, annual discharges from the nuclear fuel cycle are about 4% of the model 1000 MW(e) LWR using once through cooling. The consumptive water use of 0.6 × 106 m3 per year is about 2% of the model 1000 MW(e) LWR using cooling towers. The maximum consumptive water use (assuming that all plants supplying electrical energy to the nuclear fuel cycle used cooling towers) would be about 6% of the model 1000 MWe LWR using cooling towers. Under this condition, thermal effluents would be negligible. The staff finds that these combinations of thermal loadings and water consumption are acceptable relative to the water use and thermal discharges of the proposed project. C. Fossil Fuel Impacts Electrical energy and process heat are required during various phases of the fuel cycle process. The electrical energy is usually produced by the combustion of fossil fuel at conventional power plants. Electrical energy associated with the fuel cycle represents about 5% of the annual electrical power pro- duction of the model 1000 MW(e) LWR. Process heat is primarily generated by the combustion of natural gas. This gas consumption, if used to generate electricity, would be less than 0.4% of the electrical output from the model plant. The staff finds that the direct and indirect consumption of electrical energy for fuel cycle operations is small and acceptable relative to the net power production of the proposed project. D. Chemical Effluents The quantities of chemical, gaseous, and particulate effluents with fuel cycle