Year
1992
Abstract
A successful resolution of the high-level waste management issue is one of the fundamental obstacles confronting the future of nuclear power. Particularly important is the long-lifetime of highlevel radioactive waste, the direct result of the longlived actinide elements (U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm) contained in unreprocessed high-level waste (i.e., intact spent fuel). Actinide burning (partitioning and transmutation) offers a potential solution to the longlived problem of high-level radioactive waste. This paper introduces and analyzes a complete system for future nuclear power generation which couples Light Water Reactors [LWRs] (for operability, safety, and cost) and Integral Fast Reactors [IFRs] (for high-level waste treatment and actinide burning) in a symbiotic large-scale system which would provide both power generation and radioactive waste toxicity reduction. An \"effective lifetime\" methodology is developed to analyze the lifetime of high-level waste and shows that actinide burning offers the potential to reduce the \"effective lifetime\" of high-level waste from approximately 350,000 years (for intact spent fuel) to only 500 years (with actinide burning). The primary advantages of the LWR/IFR actinide burning hybrid system are a short lifetime high-level waste, improved reactor safety, improved uranium utilization, and a widening of the electricity options base. The primary disadvantages of the LWR/IFR actinide burning hybrid system are the large capacity of IFRs required (approximately one MWe IFR capacity for every three MWe LWR capacity, or 79 450-MWe IFRs to support the existing generation of LWRs) and the lack of experience with the IFR system. * This paper represents solely the views of the author and is not intended to represent the views or positions of TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc. or the U.S. Department of Energy.