Alternatives for Disposal of Plutonium from Nuclear Weapons Disarmament Activities

The dismantling of nuclear weapons as part of an armament reduction effort can have profound impacts on both the nuclear fuel cycle and the wastes resulting therefrom. If the plutonium included in such weapons were to be converted to forms that can be burned in commercial nuclear power reactors, the impacts on the uranium mining and milling industry would be severe. Moreover, there would be significant added costs involved in the fabrication of MOX fuel for LWRs which, in the absence of an active breeder reactor program, would be the principal option for transmutating the fissionable material. Also the spent fuel resulting from the use of MOX fuel would have a higher Pu content than that of conventional enriched UO2 fuel. An analysis of the prospective costs of these options is developed and compared to that for UO2 fuel. Another option for rendering the plutonium unsuitable for weapons use include immobilization and/or dilution of the plutonium in a highly insoluble matrix, after its conversion to a more readily dispersable form. This produces additional TRU wastes for disposal, with the volume dependent upon the concentration of the plutonium.