Spent fuel management: Present status and future trends of reprocessing and recycling
- COGEMA, Villacoublay (France)
This paper will describe the present status of the reprocessing/recycling industry and discuss the main trends of the recycling strategy through waste management of MOX fuel use, as well as economical and political issues. The operating experience of the COGEMA La Hague reprocessing facility will be summarized both in terms of quality of products and residues and in terms of personnel safety and impact on the environment. The second part will present the evolution of the waste volume arising from such plants, showing a steady reduction of the volumes as compared with the direct disposal evaluations. A third part will address the MOX fuel use in the reactors in France and abroad, and the corresponding MOX fuel fabrication facilities programs to cope with the utilities needs. A global assessment of the impact on the environment of the reprocessing/recycling strategy will then be presented, including the mastering of the plutonium inventory both in terms of quantity and of isotopic quality. The last part will discuss some aspects of the economics of the reprocessing/recycling strategy. As a conclusion, it should be recognized that each country may have its own legitimate strategy for nuclear energy and nuclear waste management. European countries and Japan share some common characteristics, in particular in terms of scarcity of their natural energetic resources, explaining their commitment to nuclear fuel recycling and their anticipation of their long term nuclear power program.
- OSTI ID:
- 178025
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950917--; ISBN 0-7918-1219-7
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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