THE BENEFITS OF RECYCLING FOR THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

摘要

Robust increases in energy demand, improvements in the performance of existing nuclear power plants, renewed interest in assuring domestic energy supply and concern about climate change have recently provided powerful arguments for renewing and further expanding the use of nuclear energy in the United States. Given the challenges encountered today in establishing a repository in the United States, the development of nuclear power may be facilitated through innovative used nuclear fuel management options. In addition, the treatment-recycling of used nuclear fuel has evolved over the years into a mature industry which is now a proven industrial solution for used fuel management in many countries. During the last decade there has been significant technical progress in treatment and recycling processes. Choosing the recycling option also keeps open the choice of using the energy remaining in the recovered products: today in existing reactors, tomorrow in next generation reactors with even greater efficiency, and later in Gen IV reactors where it will be a standard feature.