IAEA-TECDOC-1587 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Options August 2008 IAEA-TECDOC-1587 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Options August 2008 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING OPTIONS IAEA, VIENNA, 2008 IAEA-TECDOC-1587 ISBN 978–92–0–103808–1 ISSN 1011–4289 © IAEA, 2008 Printed by the IAEA in Austria August 2008 FOREWORD The IAEA continues to give a high priority to safe and effective implementation of spent fuel management. The purpose of this publication is to review current and future options for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels and the future direction of the nuclear fuel cycle most likely to achieve the objectives of assured energy supply, environmental protection, economic feasibility, and safeguards of special nuclear materials. Substantial global growth of nuclear electricity generation is expected to occur during this century, in response to environmental issues and to assure the sustainability of the electrical energy supply in both industrial and less-developed countries. This growth carries with it an increasing responsibility to ensure that nuclear fuel cycle technologies are used only for peaceful purposes. Recently, proposals have been set forth by the IAEA Director General, governments of the United States of America and Russian Federation for the internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle. These proposals entail an implied need for the development of innovative means for closure of the nuclear fuel cycle as advanced reactors (Generations III and IV) are deployed and as the quantities of material in the fuel cycle are set to increase to levels several times larger than at present. Such increases can cause stress to the international non-proliferation regime and create undue problems for nuclear waste disposal if not dealt with through open and comprehensive international collaboration. The proper management of spent fuel arising from nuclear power production is a key issue for the sustainable development of nuclear energy. While reprocessing of spent fuel was historically the favored strategy for the back end fuel cycle, in the past few decades some countries have turned to other options. Specifically some countries have adopted a direct disposal or a ‘wait and see’ strategy, partly in response to concerns such as nuclear weapons proliferation, public acceptance and economics. Some other countries have continued to develop and improve closed fuel cycle technologies. The IAEA has issued several publications in the past that provide technical information on the global status and trends in spent fuel reprocessing and associated topics, and one purpose of this present publication is to provide an update of this information. However, the scope of this publication has been significantly expanded in an attempt to make it more comprehensive by including more information on emerging technologies. A Scientific Forum on the topic “Fuel Cycle Issues and Challenges”, held during the 48th General Conference of the IAEA on 20– 22 September 2004 provided an opportunity to review and discuss several of the issues associated with spent fuel management and to provide some of the input to finalize this publication. For the preparation of this publication, a Technical Meeting (TM) was held in October 2005, preceded by a consultancy meeting in December 2004. Additional Consultancy Meetings were held in October 2006 and April 2007. The preliminary draft has subsequently been reviewed and revised several times by the contributors themselves and by other reviewers. The contributions of all who brought indispensable help in drafting and editing the publication (listed at the end of the publication) are greatly appreciated. The IAEA staff member responsible for this publication was Z. Lovasic of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE The papers in these proceedings are reproduced as submitted by the authors and have not undergone rigorous editorial review by the IAEA. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the IAEA, the governments of the nominating Member States or the nominating organizations. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. CONTENTS SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 2 1.1. Global statistics in spent fuel management ........................................................ 2 1.2. Background of the IAEA activities in the field .................................................. 2 1.3. Scope of work..................................................................................................... 4 1.3.1. Global evolution of spent fuel management options .............................. 4 1.3.2. Technical challenges............................................................................... 9 1.3.3. Non-technical challenges...................................................................... 10 2. REPROCESSING OPTIONS FOR SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT .......................... 10 2.1. Historical background and current status of reprocessing options in industrial scale.............................................................................................. 10 2.2. Prospects for advanced fuel cycle strategies .................................................... 12 2.3. Advanced reprocessing options........................................................................ 13 3. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) IN SUPPORT OF ADVANCED REPROCESSING OPTIONS.................................................................. 25 3.1. Major actinides separation technologies........................................................... 25 3.1.1. R&D on Hydrometallurgical processes (Aqueous technologies) in some countries .................................................................................. 25 3.1.2. Pyrometallurgical processes (non aqueous technologies, the “dry route”) ..................................................................................... 27 3.1.3. Exploratory R&D on non- aqueous innovative processes .................... 27 3.1.4. Status of R&D on non aqueous processes by fuel type ........................ 28 3.2. Minor actinides separation................................................................................ 32 3.2.1. Aqueous processes................................................................................ 32 3.2.2. Non-aqueous processes......................................................................... 34 3.3. Group actinide separation technologies............................................................ 35 3.4. Fission and activation products separation technologies.................................. 41 3.5. Alternative routes to transmutation: conditioning in an inert matrix ............... 42 4. ISSUES AND CHALLENGES RELATED TO SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING...... 43 4.1. Resources management and economics ........................................................... 44 4.1.1. Basic economic principles (adopted from INPRO methodology)........ 47 4.1.2. Economic analysis and comparison...................................................... 47 4.1.3. Cost categories...................................................................................... 49 4.1.4. Factors affecting economics ................................................................. 51 4.2. Proliferation risk reduction............................................................................... 51 4.2.1. General background of proliferation issues .......................................... 52 4.2.2. Proliferation assessment methodology ................................................. 53 4.3. Physical protection ........................................................................................... 55 4.4. Environmental impact issues ............................................................................ 55 4.5. International safety standards ........................................................................... 56 4.6. Public acceptance ............................................................................................. 55 4.7. Modeling tools.................................................................................................. 57 4.7.1. International Atomic Energy Agency................................................... 57 4.7.2. OECD/NEA .......................................................................................... 58 4.7.3. Dynamic Model of Nuclear Development (DYMOND) ...................... 58 4.7.4. AFCI Module........................................................................................ 59 4.7.5.