Incentives and recent proposals for partitioning and transmutation in the United States
- Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States)
Partitioning and transmutation (P-T) is perhaps the most elegant means of high level waste disposal. Currently, the cost of fuel obtained from reprocessing spent fuel exceeds the cost of fuel obtained by mining. This has resulted in the once through fuel cycle dominating the US nuclear industry. Despite this fact P-T continues to be examined and debated by the US as well as abroad. The US first seriously considered P-T between approximately 1976 and 1982 but rejected the concept in favor of reprocessing. More recently, since about 1989, as a result of the once through fuel cycle and the growing problems of waste disposal, studies concerning P-T have resumed. This essay will seek to outline the incentives and goals of partitioning and transmutation as it would apply to the disposal of spent fuel in the US. Recent proposals by various US national laboratories for implementing partitioning and transmutation as a high level waste management and disposal device will also be discussed. The review will seek to examine the technical concepts utilized in each of the proposals and their feasibility. The major focus of this essay will be the transmutation methods themselves, while the partitioning methods will be discussed only briefly. This is because of the fact that partitioning methods fall under reprocessing as an already fairly well established and accepted technology while feasible methods for transmutation are still being advanced.
- Research Organization:
- Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76OR00033
- OSTI ID:
- 671976
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/OR/00033--T731; ON: DE97053595
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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