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W.B.C.S. Examination Notes On – Reprocessing Policies – General Science Notes.
During the period of ambitious nuclear power plant construction in the United States in the 1950s and ’60s, it was generally assumed that after two to five years, spent fuel would be delivered to a reprocessing plant. Some commercial reprocessing plants were built or planned, but by the mid-1970s the cost of reprocessing had escalated to a point where its economics became questionable.Continue Reading W.B.C.S. Examination Notes On – Reprocessing Policies – General Science Notes.
Also, in 1977 Pres. Jimmy Carter, in order to take a public, symbolic stand against nuclear proliferation, declared that the federal government would permanently defer all permits for the commercial reprocessing and recycling of plutonium. Carter’s directive was rescinded by his successor, Ronald Reagan, and it has not been reinstated by any subsequent president. Even so, reprocessing is still not done commercially in the United States, partly because of the huge costs of building a reprocessing plant in a period when the supply of uranium ore has been sufficient to satisfy demand relatively cheaply.
Policy and institutional arrangements have been different in France and the United Kingdom, where commercial plants reprocess spent fuel not only from nuclear plants in the host countries but also from plants in other countries. The reprocessed plutonium can be used not only as fuel for proposed future liquid-metal reactors (LMRs) but also to help fuel existing LWRs. In the latter application, the plutonium is utilized in mixed oxide (MOX) form—a combination of uranium and plutonium dioxides having 3 to 6 percent plutonium.
A number of other countries, including Russia, India, Japan, and China, reprocess their spent fuel or plan to do so. The proactive reprocessing efforts of these countries have reduced the waste scheduled for long-term disposal to amounts well below those that are accumulating in countries that do not reprocess.
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