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The FuTure oF nuclear Fuel cycle - MIT Energy Initiative

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Figure d.3 direct disposal Consequences<br />

<strong>The</strong> Once-Through <strong>Fuel</strong> Cycle with Direct Underground Storage/Disposal<br />

Environmental<br />

Friendliness<br />

Mining, milling, enrichment, fuel fabrication<br />

Transport of spent and re<strong>cycle</strong>d fuel<br />

Public Safety<br />

reactor operation and decommissioning period<br />

Spent fuel storage — 50 years on top of Pal<br />

Final disposal of SF and other waste — between 50 and up to 200<br />

uranium enrichment<br />

Security<br />

reactor operation and decommissioning period<br />

Spent fuel storage — 50 years on top of Pal<br />

Final disposal of SF and other waste — 100 years after Pal<br />

Resource<br />

Durability<br />

consuming uranium<br />

energy production with u — 100 years<br />

retrievable stored/disposed of spent fuel<br />

Economic<br />

Viability<br />

Safety measures — until the end of retrieval period<br />

Technical<br />

Applicability<br />

Geological disposal<br />

Generation 1 Generation 1 Gen n<br />

note: <strong>The</strong> elements Indicated in red represent the divergences from current Practice in the u.S. as Illustrated in Fig. 2.<br />

Transmutation of actinides: LWR-FR<br />

In some countries (such as France and Great-Britain), SF is currently re<strong>cycle</strong>d in order to<br />

extract uranium and plutonium for reuse in LWRs and to reduce the waste lifetime. It is,<br />

however, a method that has received widespread criticism because of the proliferation risks<br />

attached to separating plutonium. A future possibility, to retain the advantages of recycling<br />

but to reduce security burdens, would be to develop an integrated fuel <strong>cycle</strong> that extracts<br />

uranium as fuel and consumes plutonium, together with minor actinides, in fast reactors.<br />

This fuel <strong>cycle</strong> Partitions & Transmutes (P&T) fission products and actinides. Before this<br />

type of fuel <strong>cycle</strong> can be deployed at industrial level it needs to be technologically refined<br />

and it must be economically viable.<br />

appendix d: Intergenerational equity considerations of <strong>Fuel</strong> <strong>cycle</strong> choices 219

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