Weapons-grade plutonium dispositioning. Volume 2: Comparison of plutonium disposition options

Technical Report · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10167893· OSTI ID:10167893

Brownson, D A; Hanson, D J; Blackman, H S ^[1]

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1. and others

The Secretary of Energy requested the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on International Security and Arms Control to evaluate disposition options for weapons-grade plutonium. The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) offered to assist the NAS in this evaluation by investigating the technical aspects of the disposition options and their capability for achieving plutonium annihilation levels greater than 90%. This report was prepared for the NAS to document the gathered information and results from the requested option evaluations. Evaluations were performed for 12 plutonium disposition options involving five reactor and one accelerator-based systems. Each option was evaluated in four technical areas: (1) fuel status, (2) reactor or accelerator-based system status, (3) waste-processing status, and (4) waste disposal status. Based on these evaluations, each concept was rated on its operational capability and time to deployment. A third rating category of option costs could not be performed because of the unavailability of adequate information from the concept sponsors. The four options achieving the highest rating, in alphabetical order, are the Advanced Light Water Reactor with plutonium-based ternary fuel, the Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor with plutonium-based fuel, the Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor with uranium-plutonium-based fuel, and the Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor with plutonium-based fuel. Of these four options, the Advanced Light Water Reactor and the Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor do not propose reprocessing of their irradiated fuel. Time constraints and lack of detailed information did not allow for any further ratings among these four options. The INEL recommends these four options be investigated further to determine the optimum reactor design for plutonium disposition.

• Research Organization: USDOE Idaho Field Office, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 10167893
• Report Number(s): DOE/ID--10422-Vol.2; ON: DE94015247
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

055001
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
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45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
450200
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ACCELERATORS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DECOMMISSIONING
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
MATERIALS PROCESSING REACTORS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS AND EXPLOSIVES
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PLUTONIUM
PROLIFERATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RESEARCH
TEST
TRAINING
PRODUCTION
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS TESTING REACTORS
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TRANSMUTATION