This report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), provides a comprehensive set of cost data supporting studies for the relative economic comparison of nuclear fuel cycle options for use in the DOE Systems Analysis and Integration (SA&I) Campaign. The report describes the SA&I cost basis development process, reference information, a procedure for estimating fuel cycle costs, economic evaluation guidelines, and a discussion on the integration of cost data into economic computer models. Cost data spans the beginning of the fuel cycle with mining and milling through to waste disposal and disposition. | 
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The report contains cost data for numerous fuel cycle operations, documented in what the report calls cost modules. These include cost modules for unit operations as well as for reactor types. The fuel cycle cost modules were developed in the areas of natural uranium mining and milling, thorium mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, depleted uranium disposition, fuel fabrication, interim spent fuel storage, reprocessing, waste conditioning, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) packaging, long-term monitored retrievable storage, managed decay storage, recycled product storage, near-surface disposal of low-level waste (LLW), geologic repository and other disposal concepts, and transportation processes for nuclear fuel, LLW, SNF, transuranic, and high-level waste. (See figure above.) Since its inception in 2003, this report has been periodically updated. The last external edition was published in December 2017 as INL/EXT-17-43826 and is replaced by this current version, published in 2021. Different from earlier versions, this report is now published as a series of cost modules instead of as a single report. As new cost bases become available, corresponding cost modules will be published as needed. In updating the Cost Basis Report to the new
format for releasing updates, cost modules are in various stages of release.
For modules that have been cleared for public release, there is a link to the
current version of the document. For modules that have not yet been cleared for
public release, the link is to the 2017 version of the report.
Important Links Questions about this report or the SA&I economic analysis should be directed to Jason Hansen at Idaho National Laboratory or Ed Hoffman at Argonne National Laboratory.
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