RADIOACTIVE WASTE STREAMS FROM VARIOUS POTENTIAL NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE OPTIONS
Five fuel cycle options, about which little is known compared to more commonly known options, have been studied in the past year for the United States Department of Energy. These fuel cycle options, and their features relative to uranium-fueled light water reactor (LWR)-based fuel cycles, include: • Advanced once-through reactor concepts (Advanced Once-Through, or AOT) – intended for high uranium utilization and long reactor operating life, use depleted uranium in some cases, and avoid or minimize used fuel reprocessing • Fission-fusion hybrid (FFH) reactor concepts – potential variations are intended for high uranium or thorium utilization, produce fissile material for use in power generating reactors, or transmute transuranic (TRU) and some radioactive fission product (FP) isotopes • High temperature gas reactor (HTGR) concepts - intended for high uranium utilization, high reactor thermal efficiencies; they have unique fuel designs • Molten salt reactor (MSR) concepts – can breed fissile U-233 from Th fuel and avoid or minimize U fuel enrichment, use on-line reprocessing of the used fuel, produce lesser amounts of long-lived, highly radiotoxic TRU elements, and avoid fuel assembly fabrication • Thorium/U-233 fueled LWR (Th/U-233) concepts – can breed fissile U-233 from Th fuel and avoid or minimize U fuel enrichment, and produce lesser amounts of long-lived, highly radiotoxic TRU elements. These fuel cycle options could result in widely different types and amounts of used or spent fuels, spent reactor core materials, and waste streams from used fuel reprocessing, such as: • Highly radioactive, high-burnup used metal, oxide, or inert matrix U and/or Th fuels, clad in Zr, steel, or composite non-metal cladding or coatings • Spent radioactive-contaminated graphite, SiC, carbon-carbon-composite, metal, and Be reactor core materials • Li-Be-F salts containing U, TRU, Th, and fission products • Ranges of separated or un-separated activation products, fission products, and actinides. Waste forms now used or studied for used LWR fuels can be used for some of these waste streams – but some waste forms may need to be developed for unique waste streams.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 993151
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-10-20197; TRN: US1007972
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: OECD Nuclear Energy Agency 11th Information Exchange Meeting,San Francisco, CA,11/01/2010,11/05/2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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12 MGMT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDES
COATINGS
DEPLETED URANIUM
FABRICATION
FISSILE MATERIALS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL CYCLE
GRAPHITE
MOLTEN SALT REACTORS
NUCLEAR FUELS
OECD
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR CORES
REPROCESSING
SPENT FUELS
THORIUM
URANIUM
WASTE FORMS
WASTES
radioactive waste