WISE Uranium Project offers a choice of unique JavaScript-based calculators covering the front-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. These calculators serve to make the basics of the nuclear fuel industry more transparent.
Though designed for educational purposes, they are believed to be scientifically correct - to the degree achievable with limited resources. Each calculator is accompanied by a Help file, describing the calculation procedure and the parameters used, and any assumptions and simplifications made.
Most of the calculators produce an output already after a simple click on the "Calculate" button, since the parameters are preset to reasonable values. The impacts of parameter variations can then be studied by modifying one or more parameters of interest, followed by another "Calculate"-click.
All you need to run the calculators is to load them into your Internet browser window. They use JavaScript, a built-in programming language of your browser. Some of the calculators also use Java to produce graphical output. Most of the calculators are fully functional under Windows 3.1; they don't require Windows 95 or higher.
Requirements: The calculators require Netscape 3.0, Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, and JavaScript must be enabled:
For viewing the graphical output produced by some of the calculators, Netscape 4.0, Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher is required, and Java must also be enabled:
In case you experience problems with graphical output of a calculator, you can do some tests here.
Offline Use: You best store the calculator files on your local disk for you can use them offline. For offline use of those calculators that use Java, you also have to store the following files from the subdirectory classes in a subdirectory of this exact name on your local disk (for Windows 3.1x, filenames *.CLA are ok):
for those calculators which use the Java Applet wupDraw: wupdraw.class
Problems? The calculators were tested on Netscape 4.0. If you experience any problems, please drop a line to P.Diehl.
Disclaimer: These calculators are for educational purposes only. There is no warranty whatsoever - you are using the calculators at your own risk.
Copyright: The calculators are subject to the general copyright notice of the WISE Uranium Project website.
History: The first calculator in this series was the Nuclear Fuel Material Balance Calculator, released on 21 March 1999. The series has continuously been enlarged since.
This calculator answers questions such as: How much uranium ore has to be mined to supply the fuel for a nuclear power plant? What amounts of wastes are produced at the front end of the nuclear fuel chain? What amount of electricity is consumed during the enrichment process? The calculator covers the Light Water Reactor (BWR and PWR) fuel chain.
This calculator is an enlarged version of the Nuclear Fuel Material Balance Calculator, also allowing for calculation of an energy consumption and CO2 emission balance.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
This calculator is a modified version of the Nuclear Fuel Energy Balance Calculator. It provides a material, energy, and CO2 emission balance for the front end of the nuclear fuel chain, assuming that the uranium feed is generated from re-enrichment of depleted uranium tails.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate production and supply of nuclear fuel, and the lifespan of the world uranium resources.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java. Does not work with Netscape for Windows 3.1.
Calculate and compare activities and radioactive decay of the wastes from nuclear fuel production: uranium mine waste rock, uranium mill tailings, depleted uranium, and spent fuel.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate the official and the hidden cost of nuclear fuel: The market price for nuclear fuel does not necessarily include the future waste management costs linked to its production. The hidden costs may reach a multiple of the nominal costs!
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate and compare the material balance and nominal cost of nuclear fuel from enriched natural uranium, re-enriched depleted uranium tails, enriched recycled uranium, recycled plutonium (MOX), and downblended highly enriched uranium (HEU).
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate collective doses and health risks from the production of nuclear fuel. The release of radioactive radon gas from mines, mills, and mill tailings is of major concern.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Determine the optimum tails assay, for which the cost of enriched uranium is minimized, based on market prices for uranium and for enrichment work.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Re-enrichment of depleted uranium - a mystery? No longer with this calculator. How much uranium can be recovered? How does this affect the volume of the depleted uranium stockpiles?
Determine the monetary value of depleted uranium tails, here defined as the value that can be realized (in times of high uranium market prices) by re-enrichment to natural-equivalent uranium.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate the material balance for downblending of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) - the process being used to make weapons-grade uranium suitable for use as fuel in nuclear power plants.
Radiation Activity Calculators
Calculate radioactive decay, ingrowth of decay products, neutron activation, and neutron production.
Calculate radioactive decay and ingrowth of uranium and its decay products for a variety of nuclide mixes found in the nuclear fuel industry. Covers the natural U-238 and U-235 series, and the artificial U-236 and U-232 series.
This calculator requires Netscape 4.0, Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher, and Java must be enabled.
Calculate radioactive decay and ingrowth of decay products for any nuclide mix and decay series, or lookup decay data.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate and compare activities and radioactive decay of the wastes from nuclear fuel production: uranium mine waste rock, uranium mill tailings, depleted uranium, and spent fuel.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate neutron production in uranium compounds, as caused from alpha-neutron reactions and from spontaneous fission. Particularly of interest for uranium hexafluoride (UF6).
Does not work with Netscape for Windows 3.1.
Calculate the health risk for a uranium miner with a known radiation exposure history, and, in case he has contracted cancer, the probability of this cancer being caused by the radiation exposure. Covers lung cancer and a number of other cancers.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
What is the radiation dose for an individual that is exposed to a known amount of uranium and/or its decay products? For a variety of nuclide mixes found in the nuclear fuel industry, this calculator covers ingestion, inhalation, external exposure from contaminated soil, and external exposure from a point source. Calculations can not only be performed for actual exposure situations, but also for future scenarios, taking decay and ingrowth of decay products into account.
Calculate the age-specific radiation dose caused from ingestion or inhalation of a certain amount of uranium. Determine situations where the standard adult is not the receiver of the highest dose.
Calculate the organ-specific radiation dose caused from uptake of a certain amount of uranium. This allows to determine the risk of contracting a certain type of cancer.
Calculate the biokinetic behaviour of uranium in the human body after intakes by inhalation, ingestion, or embedded shrapnel. Determine the uranium excretion in urine associated with a given intake, or, the other way round, estimate a prior intake from a given uranium concentration in urine, for example.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java. Does not work with Netscape for Windows 3.1.
Calculate the radiation dose from a shielded gamma source.
Examples for calculations include: Gamma radiation on a bare or covered uranium mill tailings pile, Gamma radiation near transport containers carrying uranium ore, U3O8, UF6, or the like, and Gamma radiation from a depleted uranium penetrator lying on the ground, or buried in the ground.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java. Does not work with Netscape for Windows 3.1.
Calculate the radiation dose and risk for an individual living on soil contaminated from uranium and/or in a home built from such contaminated material (residential exposure scenario). It covers the following pathways: ingestion of soil, inhalation of fugitive dusts, external exposure, ingestion of produce grown in the soil, ingestion of contaminated groundwater, and inhalation of radon.
Calculate individual dose and health risk from inhalation of radon and uranium dust for a person living nearby a uranium mine, mill and associated tailings pile.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate collective doses and health risks from the production of nuclear fuel. The release of radioactive radon gas from mines, mills, and mill tailings is of major concern.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Determine the Gamma radiation on a bare or covered uranium mill tailings pile (among others).
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java. Does not work with Netscape for Windows 3.1.
Determine the factor of safety for a soil slope, for example for a tailings dam during seismic loads.
Does not work with Netscape for Windows 3.1. Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Determine the extent of a flow slide of mill tailings liquefied during an earthquake, and view a computed animation of the flow slide.
Optional graphical output of this calculator uses Java.
Calculate the depleted uranium fraction in a sample containing a mix of natural and depleted uranium, or the enriched uranium fraction in a sample containing a mix of natural and enriched uranium.
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