Germany plans integrated fuel-cycle complex

Journal Article · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978 · Energy Int.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6445068

Rippon, S

With the availability of a safe waste-disposal technique a precondition for the licensing of further nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic of Germany, the need for an integrated reprocessing, fuel-fabrication, and waste-disposal facility has acquired a new urgency. The Gorleben project may be seen as the ideal approach for management of wastes and recycling of valuable nuclear fuel. The project is intended to provide an integrated center capable of handling all spent fuel from German nuclear power plants at one site situated above a very large salt dome, which is ideal for geological disposal of concentrated high-level waste products. A large reprocessing plant will provide for recovery of some 97% by weight of the spent fuel, mostly in the form of uranium but also some plutonium, which can be recycled in thermal reactors to produce a 30 to 40% increase in the energy produced from the original burn of the fuel or up to 60 times as much energy if the plutonium is used in fast reactors. Fabrication of the recycle materials into fuel pins, containing mixed oxides of uranium and plutonium in the form of ceramic pellets sealed into high-integrity Zircaloy or stainless steel tubes, will also be undertaken at the center.

• OSTI ID: 6445068
• Journal Information: Energy Int.; (United States), Journal Name: Energy Int.; (United States) Vol. 15:10; ISSN ENEIB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050700 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Fuels Production & Properties
050800 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
052001 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
EUROPE
FABRICATION
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL FABRICATION PLANTS
FUEL PINS
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
FUELS
GERMAN FEDERAL REPUBLIC
LICENSING
MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANNING
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
POWER PLANTS
PROLIFERATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SITE SELECTION
SPENT FUELS
STORAGE
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM OXIDES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE STORAGE