International safeguards concerns of spent fuel disposal program

Conference · Thu Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1987 · Nucl. Mater. Manage. Annu. Meet. Proc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6583968

Pillay, K K.S. ^[1]

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1. Safeguards Systems Group, Los Alamos National Lab., Los Alamos, NM (US)

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussions on the subject of safeguarding large quantities of plutonium contained in spent fuels to be disposed of in geologic repositories. All the spent fuel disposal scenarios examined here pose a variety of safeguards problems, none of which are adequately addressed by the international safeguards community. The spent fuels from once-through fuel cycles in underground repositories would become an increasingly attractive target for diversion because of their plutonium content and decreasing radioactivity. Current design of the first geologic repository in the U.S. will have the capacity to accommodate wasted equivalent to 70 000 Mt of uranium from commercial and defense fuel cycles. Of this, approximately 62 000 Mt uranium equivalent will be commercial spent fuel, containing over 500 Mt of plutonium and a variety of other valuable elements. International safeguards committments may require us to address the safeguards issues of disposing of such large quantities of plutonium in a geologic repository, which has the potential to become a plutonium mine in the future. This paper highlights several issues that should be addressed in the near term by U.S. industries and the DOE before geologic repositories for spent fuels become a reality.

• OSTI ID: 6583968
• Report Number(s): CONF-880631-
• Journal Information: Nucl. Mater. Manage. Annu. Meet. Proc.; (United States), Journal Name: Nucl. Mater. Manage. Annu. Meet. Proc.; (United States) Vol. 17; ISSN NUMMB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ACTINIDES
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DESIGN
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
INTERNATIONAL CONTROL
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MATERIALS
METALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FUELS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
REACTOR MATERIALS
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SPENT FUELS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
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