Technical Reports SeriEs No. 435 Implications of Partitioning and Transmutation in Radioactive Waste Management IMPLICATIONS OF PARTITIONING AND TRANSMUTATION IN RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GUATEMALA PERU ALBANIA HAITI PHILIPPINES ALGERIA HOLY SEE POLAND ANGOLA HONDURAS PORTUGAL ARGENTINA HUNGARY QATAR ARMENIA ICELAND REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA AUSTRALIA INDIA ROMANIA AUSTRIA INDONESIA AZERBAIJAN IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION BANGLADESH IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA BELARUS IRELAND SENEGAL BELGIUM ISRAEL SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BENIN ITALY SEYCHELLES BOLIVIA JAMAICA SIERRA LEONE BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JAPAN SINGAPORE BOTSWANA JORDAN SLOVAKIA BRAZIL KAZAKHSTAN SLOVENIA BULGARIA KENYA SOUTH AFRICA BURKINA FASO KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SPAIN CAMEROON KUWAIT CANADA KYRGYZSTAN SRI LANKA CENTRAL AFRICAN LATVIA SUDAN REPUBLIC LEBANON SWEDEN CHILE LIBERIA SWITZERLAND CHINA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COLOMBIA LIECHTENSTEIN TAJIKISTAN COSTA RICA LITHUANIA THAILAND CÔTE D’IVOIRE LUXEMBOURG THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CROATIA MADAGASCAR REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CUBA MALAYSIA TUNISIA CYPRUS MALI TURKEY CZECH REPUBLIC MALTA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MARSHALL ISLANDS UGANDA OF THE CONGO MAURITIUS UKRAINE DENMARK MEXICO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MONACO UNITED KINGDOM OF ECUADOR MONGOLIA GREAT BRITAIN AND EGYPT MOROCCO NORTHERN IRELAND EL SALVADOR MYANMAR UNITED REPUBLIC ERITREA NAMIBIA OF TANZANIA ESTONIA NETHERLANDS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ETHIOPIA NEW ZEALAND URUGUAY FINLAND NICARAGUA UZBEKISTAN FRANCE NIGER GABON NIGERIA VENEZUELA GEORGIA NORWAY VIETNAM GERMANY PAKISTAN YEMEN GHANA PANAMA ZAMBIA GREECE PARAGUAY ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. © IAEA, 2004 Permission to reproduce or translate the information contained in this publication may be obtained by writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramer Strasse 5, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Printed by the IAEA in Austria December 2004 STI/DOC/010/435 TECHNICAL REPORTS SERIES No. 435 IMPLICATIONS OF PARTITIONING AND TRANSMUTATION IN RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2004 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and will be considered on a case by case basis. Enquiries should be addressed by email to the Publishing Section, IAEA, at [email protected] or by post to: Sales and Promotion Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P. O. B o x 1 0 0 A-1400 Vienna Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 http://www.iaea.org/Publications/index.html IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Implications of partitioning and transmutation in radioactive waste management. — Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2004. p. ; 24 cm. — (Technical reports series, ISSN 0074–1914 ; no. 435) STI/DOC/010/435 ISBN 92–0–115104–7 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Radioactive wastes. 2. Hazardous wastes — Management. 3. Transmutation (Chemistry) 4. Nuclear fuel elements. 5. Nuclear non-proliferation. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. II. Tech- nical reports series (International Atomic Energy Agency) ; 435. IAEAL 04–00387 FOREWORD Almost all States with a nuclear power capability consider geological disposal as the end point for spent fuel declared as waste and also for the long lived radionuclides and high level waste resulting from the reprocessing of spent fuel. However, several States are considering or investigating partitioning and transmutation (P&T) as a potential complementary route in the management of the radioactive material resulting from nuclear power generation. P&T has the potential to open new avenues for long term waste management and to reduce the radiological hazard (in terms of magnitude and duration), to weaken the decay heat evolution history (e.g. by eliminating long lived heat producing actinides) and to reduce the quantities of the fissile and/or fertile radionuclides that pose proliferation concerns. Whereas only the major nuclear power States are potentially capable of developing a self-supported P&T activity, States with more modest programmes are studying the impact of P&T on their own waste management programmes and strategies. Recognizing this, and taking into account the increased interest in advanced and innovative nuclear fuel cycles and reactor systems, the IAEA initiated in 2001 a programme dedicated to preparing a report analysing the current status of P&T. Potential options for implementing P&T and its potential impact on waste management programmes and strategies were evaluated from an international perspective. The first draft report was prepared at a meeting from 15 to 19 October 2001 by four consultants: L.H. Baetslé (Belgium), M. Embid-Segura (Spain), J. Magill (Germany) and N. Rabotnov (Russian Federation). A status report on the subject was prepared by L.H. Baetslé. During a Technical Committee Meeting (TCM) held in September 2002, a draft document was discussed, revised and substantially extended by ten participants and representatives of the IAEA Departments of Safeguards and Nuclear Safety. After this meeting, the report was finalized at a meeting from 7 to 11 April 2003 by the same group of consultants, also including L. Stewart from the USA. The IAEA wishes to express its appreciation to all those who took part in the preparation of this report. Particular acknowledgement is due to L.H. Baetslé, who chaired the TCM and put great effort into the completion and technical polishing of the report. The IAEA officer responsible for this report was R. Burcl of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use. 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. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. World nuclear energy situation . 1 1.2. Motivation for partitioning and transmutation . 2 1.3. Purpose and structure of this report . 3 2. POTENTIAL IMPACT OF PARTITIONING AND TRANSMUTATION ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT . 4 2.1. Radiotoxicity evolution, hazard and risk . 4 2.1.1. Spent light water reactor fuel . 4 2.1.2. Spent light water reactor MOX fuel . 7 2.1.3. Spent fast reactor MOX fuel . 7 2.1.4. Radiotoxicity of fission products . 8 2.1.5. Advanced conditioning of minor actinides . 8 2.1.6. Transmutation of minor actinides . 8 2.1.7. Natural and archaeological analogues . 9 2.2. Technical issues related to partitioning and transmutation . 10 2.3. Effects of changes in long term policy on waste management . 12 2.4. Decision requirements for introduction of partitioning and transmutation . 14 2.4.1. Aqueous processing . 14 2.4.2. Pyrochemical reprocessing and recycling of transuranic elements . 16 2.4.3. Neptunium processing and transmutation issues . 16 2.4.4. Americium and curium processing and transmutation issues . 18 2.4.5. Transuranic element processing and transmutation issues . 19 3. NON-PROLIFERATION ASPECTS OF PARTITIONING AND TRANSMUTATION . 21 3.1. Proliferation potential of neptunium and americium . 21 3.2. Monitoring schemes for neptunium and americium . 22 3.3. Impact of partitioning and transmutation on nuclear non-proliferation . 24 3.3.1. Short and medium term impact . 25 3.3.2. Long term impact . 25 3.3.2.1. Impact on institutional arrangements . 25 3.3.2.2. Impact on safeguards implementation . 26 3.3.2.3. Safeguards implementation at future partitioning and transmutation cycle facilities . 26 3.4. Development of proliferation resistant partitioning and transmutation technology . 27 3.4.1. Proliferation resistance measures . 27 3.4.2. Proliferation resistant strategies for partitioning and transmutation development . 28 3.4.3. Intrinsic technological measures . 28 3.5. Technical aspects of proliferation control . 29 3.5.1. Partitioning . 30 3.5.2. Proliferation resistance of advanced aqueous processing . 30 3.5.3. Safeguardability of advanced aqueous partitioning . 31 3.5.4. Partitioning by pyroprocessing . 32 3.5.4.1. Safeguardability of pyroprocessing . 33 3.6.