Article
Techno-Economic Assessment of Fuel Cycle Facility of System
Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor (SMART)
Salah Ud-Din Khan
1,2,
* , Zeyad Almutairi
1,2,3,4
and Meshari Alanazi
1,2
Citation: Khan, S.U.-D.; Almutairi,
Z.; Alanazi, M. Techno-Economic
Assessment of Fuel Cycle Facility of
System Integrated Modular
Advanced Reactor (SMART).
Sustainability 2021, 13, 11815. https://
doi.org/10.3390/su132111815
Academic Editor: Lin Li
Received: 30 May 2021
Accepted: 19 August 2021
Published: 26 October 2021
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1
Sustainable Energy Technologies Center, College of Engineering, King Saud University,
Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia; zaalmutairi@ksu.edu.sa (Z.A.); 438105244@student.ksu.edu.sa (M.A.)
2
K.A.CARE Energy Research and Innovation Center, Riyadh 12244, Saudi Arabia
3
Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University,
Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
4
King Abdullah Institute of Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
* Correspondence: drskhan@ksu.edu.sa
Abstract:
The economic assessment of advanced nuclear power reactors is very important, specifically
during the early stages of concept design. Therefore, a study was performed to calculate the total
cost estimation of fuel cycle supply for a system modular advanced reactor (SMART) by using
the Generation-IV economic program called G4-ECONS (Generation 4 Excel-based Calculation
of Nuclear Systems). In this study, the detailed description of each model and methodology are
presented including facility, operations, construction matrix, post-production model, and fuel cycle
cost estimation model. Based on these models, six Generation-III+ and Generation-IV nuclear reactors
were simulated, namely System 80+ with benchmark data, System 80+ with uranium oxide (UOx)
and mixed oxide (MOx) fuel assemblies, fast reactor, PBMR (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor), and PWR
(Pressurized Water Reactor), with partially closed and benchmarked cases. The total levelized costs
of these reactors were obtained, and it was observed that PBMR showed the lowest cost. The research
was extended to work on the SMART reactor to calculate the total levelized fuel cycle cost, capital
cost, capital component cost, fraction of capital spent, and sine curve spent pattern. To date, no work
is being reported to calculate these parameters for the SMART reactor. It was observed that SMART
is the most cost-effective reactor system among other proven and advanced pressurized water-based
reactor systems. The main objective of the research is to verify and validate the G4-ECONS model to
be used for other innovative nuclear reactors.
Keywords: SMART; fuel cycle; total cost; Gen III+/IV reactors; verification; validation
1. Introduction
Today, Generation-III, III+, and IV nuclear power reactors, due to their unique and
novel features, are struggling to increase continuous improvement in the areas of sustain-
ability, reliability, safety and proliferation resistance, protection, and economics [
1
]. With
these criteria, advanced reactors have turned out to be a revolution in the nuclear industry,
in which highly sophisticated and novel methods and concepts are being implemented.
These incremental technologies are considered to significantly improve the safety, relia-
bility, and economics of nuclear power reactors along with other safety features. In this
way, economic assessment is an important factor in the development of Generation-IV
nuclear systems because the decision on funding is based on the economic assessment
report [
2
]. The main goal of the research is to include the proliferation, protection, safety,
reliability, and economics of the plant. This way, it substantially upgrades safety and
enhances public confidence by adding inherent safety features and reducing core damage
frequency, which is governed by offsite emergency response. These standards develop a
methodology that would allow for safety performance and evaluation of various nuclear
power plant concepts. Over the last couple of years, the safety performance of nuclear
Sustainability 2021, 13, 11815. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111815 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
