Conceivable Limits for Thermal Reactor Spent-Fuel Recycling

A spent-fuel recycling strategy that could result in only on-site storage of a fraction of the fission products produced during reactor operation to close the nuclear fuel cycle is assessed for thermal reactors, and a conceivable limit of its effectiveness determined. Electrorefining separation of selected fission products from spent fuel combined with complete actinide recycling yields an out-of-core waste stream with a significantly reduced radioactivity, volume, and lifetime compared to the conventional once-through waste management strategy, and thus it provides a possible alternative to long-term geological disposal of present-day and near-term fission reactor wastes.