Nuclear Waste: Policies and Prospects

The PUREX Cycle Fuel reprocessing is the primary alternative to permanent storage. Through a variety of chemical reactions and physical separations, useful isotopes can be isolated and mixed back into reactors as MOX (Mixed Oxide fuel). The current standard, PUREX (Plutonium-Uranium Extraction) is a simpler process, and can reduce the amount of waste needing storage in HLW facilities by almost 50%. To do this the spent fuels are !rst dissolved in a strong acid, and then any particulates are !ltered out and disposed of. Then a second dissolution happens is an organic solvent to separate the Pu and U from the other actinides and !ssion products. The liquid is then separated into two solutions, one containing Pu and the other U. France has been using this method to process its waste for many years, and the process has proven commercially viable. However, it violates U.S. policies regarding nuclear proliferation. The PUREX process produces nearly pure plutonium, which the United States sees as a threat to security. Because of this, the U.S. is looking into the UREX processes, which have an even greater return. This gain comes from not using just the UREX methods, but combining them with other separations to minimize the waste which needs permanent storage. The UREX+ processes also eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons development since uranium and plutonium remain mixed throughout the process.