Assessment of strategy robustness under disruption of objective in dynamic fuel cycle studies

The future of nuclear power depends on the interests and decisions. To take the relevant deep uncertainty into account, a new methodology of robustness analysis of fuel cycle strategies has been developed. The method has been applied to the French cycle, considering the future deployment of fast reactor as the pre-selected objective and an uncertain change, called disruption, towards a new objective: the minimization of transuranic inventories without fast reactor. The status of plutonium is contradictory in two cases. Two approaches of identifying robust strategies were tested, which correspond respectively to the static and adaptive robustness assessment. One identifies static strategies in a pre-disruption scenario, which achieve acceptable outcomes for both objectives. The other takes a trajectory pursuing the pre-selected objective and, in case of disruption, adapts it for the new objective. The comparison of two approaches indicates the temporality of adaptation relative to immediate actions under the uncertain disruption. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The future of nuclear power depends on interests and decisions, a new methodology of robustness analysis has been developed for fuel cycle strategies. The status of plutonium is contradictory in different scenarios, two methods of identifying robust strategies were tested, one is static and the other is adaptive. The comparison of two approaches shows the temporality of adaptation relative to immediate actions under uncertain disruption.