A new paradigm: near-complete recycling of spent fuel - A path to sustainable nuclear energy

Conference · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:20979628

Del Cul, Guillermo D; Spencer, Barry B; Collins, Emory D ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Rd., P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6223 (United States)

Recent studies indicate that maximized recycling, where more than 95% of the components of spent nuclear fuel are reused, can be economically justified and can reduce the mass of waste products by a substantial amount. The potentially removable and reusable components include the uranium, zirconium from the cladding, structural hardware, certain noble metal fission products, and the transuranic radionuclides. The approach to maximizing recycle and minimizing emissions and wastes should improve public acceptance of nuclear energy. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 20979628
• Resource Relation: Conference: Advanced nuclear fuel cycles and systems (GLOBAL 2007), Boise - Idaho (United States), 9-13 Sep 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; 5 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of GLOBAL 2007 conference on advanced nuclear fuel cycles and systems, 1873 pages.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CLADDING
FISSION PRODUCTS
REPROCESSING
SPENT FUELS
URANIUM
ZIRCONIUM