The Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership (GNEP) will develop
and demonstrate Advanced Burner
Reactors, or advanced fast reactors, as a key
element of a new, integrated U.S. recycling
capability. As they produce power, advanced
fast reactors consume transuranic elements
(plutonium and other long-lived radioactive
material), potentially eliminating the need
for their disposal in the geologic repository
at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
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A Concept Diagram for an Advanced Burner Reactor
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As part of GNEP, the U.S. is moving from a
once-through fuel cycle to an improved
approach based on recycling of spent nuclear fuel. Specifically, recycling would comprise uranium extraction plus (UREX+).
Research has shown that UREX+ can
separate uranium from spent fuel at a very
high level of purification that would allow it
to be recycled for re-enrichment, stored in an
unshielded facility, or simply buried as a low-level
waste. In addition, long-lived fission
products, technetium and iodine, could be
separated and immobilized for disposal in
Yucca Mountain. Short-lived fission
products, cesium and strontium, could be
extracted and prepared for decay storage until
they meet the requirements for disposal as
low-level waste. Finally, transuranic elements
(plutonium, neptunium, americium and
curium) separated from the remaining fission
products could be fabricated into fuel for an
advanced fast reactor.
To develop and deploy an integrated
recycling capability, the Department of
Energy is investigating the feasibility,
interest and ability of industry to collaborate with the U.S. national
laboratories and international partners on
both recycling and fast reactor technologies.
Industry would participate in deployment of
two facilities:
- A recycling facility (the Consolidated
Fuel Treatment Center) capable of
separating the usable components contained in light water spent fuel from the waste products.
- An advanced fast reactor, capable of
consuming those usable products from the spent fuel while generating electricity.
U.S. national laboratories would design and
direct the third component, the Advanced
Fuel Cycle Facility, a modern state-of-the-art
laboratory designed to serve reactor fuels
research needs for the next 50 years.
The Department of Energy has issued two
requests for Expressions of Interest from
domestic and international industry regarding
the feasibility of accelerating the development
and deployment of the commercial-scale
Consolidated Fuel Treatment Center and an
advanced fast reactor.
Producing Energy From Waste
To destroy the transuranics in spent fuel
from nuclear power plants, an advanced fast
reactor takes advantage of high-energy or
fast neutrons to fission, or split apart, long-lived
transuranics. The process transmutes
transuranics into shorter-lived isotopes that
do not require permanent, geologic disposal
while releasing energy for electricity. The
result is useful energy produced from
material that would otherwise be waste.
Current light water reactors and advanced
fast reactors would work well together in an
advanced nuclear fuel cycle. Light water
reactors are net producers of transuranics,
while advanced fast reactors are net
consumers of transuranics. The U.S. has a
long and successful history of research in
developing fast reactors, which provides a
valuable base for their accelerated
deployment in an integrated recycling
capability. Fast reactors may be developed
in modules to promote economical
production and can be constructed at a
single site to produce a plant capable of
generating over a gigawatt of electricity.
Ensuring Safety
Advanced fast reactors will incorporate
safety and operational design features from
the beginning to protect public and worker
health while reducing greenhouse gas
emissions during electricity generation. A
key objective of the advanced fast reactor
program is to obtain design certification
from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission for a standard plant.
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