Author(s)

Miguel Luiz Miotto Negro¹, Michelangelo Durazzo¹, Marco Aurélio de Mesquita², Elita Fontenele Urano de Carvalho¹, Delvonei Alves de Andrade¹

¹Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (Nuclear and Energy Research Institute), São Paulo, Brazil.
²Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo (Polytechnic School of São Paulo University), São Paulo, Brazil.

Several fuel plants that supply nuclear research reactors need to increase their production capacity in order to meet the growing demand for this kind of nuclear fuel. After the enlargement of the production capacity of such plants, there will be the need of managing the new production level. That level is usually the industrial one, which poses challenges to the managerial staff. Such challenges come from the fact that several of those plants operate today on a laboratorial basis and do not carry inventory. The change to the industrial production pace asks for new actions regarding planning and control. The production process based on the hydrolysis of UF6 is not a frequent production route for nuclear fuel. Production planning and control of the industrial level of fuel production on that production route is a new field of studies. The approach of the paper consists in the creation of a mathematical linear model for minimization of costs. We also carried out a sensitivity analysis of the model. The results help in minimizing costs in different production schemes and show the need of inventory. The mathematical model is dynamic, so that it issues better results if performed monthly. The management team will therefore have a clearer view of the costs and of the new, necessary production and inventory levels.

Fabrication of Uranium Silicide Fuel, Nuclear Research Reactors, Production Planning and Control

Negro, M. , Durazzo, M. , de Mesquita, M. , de Carvalho, E. and de Andrade, D. (2016) Studies on Production Planning of Dispersion Type U₃Si₂-Al Fuel in Plate-Type Fuel Elements for Nuclear Research Reactors. World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 6, 217-231. doi: 10.4236/wjnst.2016.64023.