Rethinking High-Level Waste Disposal: Separate Disposal of High-Heat Radionuclides (<sup>90</sup>Sr and <sup>137</sup>Cs)

Forsberg, Charles W.

doi:10.13182/nt00-a3115

Cited by 50 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In this section, to prepare for the subsequent discussions on pyroprocessing, we observe general characteristics of spent fuel by considering two distinct groups of radionuclides contained in spent fuel (Table 1): (Forsberg and 2000 Aug), 9 High-Heat Radionuclides (HHR) (Sr-90 and Cs-137) with short half-lives (about 30 years) and small masses (approximately 4 kg/metric ton of initial heavy metal (MTIHM)); and Low-Heat Radionuclides (LHR) with long half-lives and significant masses. In Section 3.3, we observe the ROK's two-tier repository concept accommodating them separately.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Spent Fuel and Rok's Total System Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because heat-emitting TRU is separated from LHR in Option (II), disposal of U can be done, as suggested in Forsberg (2000), with a large silo type repository, similar to the Swedish LILW Repository (The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and 2010 Apr 9). Thus, Option (II) is expected to give smaller total release rates than Option (I).…”

Section: Radiological Safety Of a Geological Repositorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While various previous studies (Ko and Kwon, 2009;Forsberg and 2000 Aug;Kawata and 2007 Dec;Wigeland et al, 2006 Apr) show that HHR-LHR separation would reduce the footprint, others claim that, if spent fuel is stored until it cools down to the same level of heat emission as the LHRs, footprint can be reduced without separation (von Hippel and 2010 Mar).…”

Section: A1 Effects On Repository Footprintmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Roles and effects of pyroprocessing for spent nuclear fuel management in South Korea

Ahn

2014

Progress in Nuclear Energy

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Republic of Korea (ROK) changed its spent nuclear fuel policy from the once-through usage and direct disposal to a total system approach that includes pyroprocessing, sodium-cooled fast reactors, and a twotier geological repository to achieve a breakthrough for domestic deadlock situation and thus enable sustainable utilization of nuclear power, but caused disagreement in the bilateral negotiation with the United States (US) for the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. Analysis has revealed that this shift is effective to make a breakthrough for domestic deadlock because it augments variety of technological options, with which more reversible decision-making process can be conducted to accommodate broad public needs. A trade-off has been explored first by deriving four engineering options from the ROK's system concept and then by comparing their performance from six viewpoints. The option including separation of high-heat emitting radionuclides by the electrolytic reduction process has been recommended.This option should be modified as exogenous and endogenous situations change in future. It is imperative for ROK to integrate a public-participatory decision-making process that works in concert with technology development. US can verify that ROK's motivation is not deviating from successful spent fuel management by checking if a transparent process with public participation is conducted.

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Section: Characteristics Of Spent Fuel and Rok's Total System Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Radiological Safety Of a Geological Repositorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A1 Effects On Repository Footprintmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Roles and effects of pyroprocessing for spent nuclear fuel management in South Korea

Ahn

2014

Progress in Nuclear Energy

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“…Several studies have been conducted to explore the possibility of downscaling waste disposal space or enhancing the capacity of the repository by introducing PT technology. [1][2][3][4][5][6] In those studies, the major heat-generating isotopes such as 90 Sr and 137 Cs were assumed to be treated as a separated waste fraction because the heat generation of radioactive wastes is one of the controlling factors in determining disposal concepts. Repository sizes were evaluated assuming a certain predisposal surface storage period for the wastes or a certain aircirculation period in the repository.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Partitioning and Transmutation on High-Level Waste Disposal for the Fast Breeder Reactor Fuel Cycle

Nishihara

Oigawa

Nakayama

et al. 2010

J. Nucl. Sci. Technol.

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The impact of partitioning and/or transmutation (PT) technology on high-level waste management was investigated for the equilibrium state of several potential fast breeder reactor (FBR) fuel cycles. Three different fuel cycle scenarios involving PT technology were analyzed: 1) partitioning process only (separation of some fission products), 2) transmutation process only (separation and transmutation of minor actinides), and 3) both partitioning and transmutation processes. The conventional light water reactor (LWR) fuel cycle without PT technology, on which the current repository design is based, was also included for comparison. We focused on the thermal constraints in a geological repository and determined the necessary predisposal storage quantities and time periods (by defining a storage capacity index) for several predefined emplacement configurations through transient thermal analysis. The relation between this storage capacity index and the required repository emplacement area was obtained. We found that the introduction of the FBR fuel cycle without PT can yield a 35% smaller repository per unit electricity generation than the LWR fuel cycle, although the predisposal storage period is prolonged from 50 years for the LWR fuel cycle to 65 years for the FBR fuel cycle without PT. The introduction of the partitioningonly process does not result in a significant reduction of the repository emplacement area from that for the FBR fuel cycle without PT, but the introduction of the transmutation-only process can reduce the emplacement area by a factor of 5 when the storage period is extended from 65 to 95 years. When a coupled partitioning and transmutation system is introduced, the repository emplacement area can be reduced by up to two orders of magnitude by assuming a predisposal storage of 60 years for glass waste and 295 years for calcined waste containing the Sr and Cs fraction. The storage period of 295 years for the calcined waste does not require a large storage capacity because the number of waste packages produced is significantly reduced by a factor of 5 from that of the glass waste package in the FBR fuel cycle without PT.

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“…Potential benefits of the introduction of PT technology have been analyzed and discussed in terms of reduction in the potential toxicity of the HLW, the public dose from the repository, and the total volume of radioactive wastes. 1) Recent studies have discussed the possibility of downscaling a waste disposal space based on specific disposal concepts [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] from viewpoints of the disposal capacity. Introduction of PT technology to the nuclear fuel cycle will produce waste types that differ from those from the conventional PUREX process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Partitioning and Transmutation on LWR High-Level Waste Disposal

Nishihara¹,

Nakayama²,

MORITA³

et al. 2008

J. Nucl. Sci. Technol.

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Partitioning and/or transmutation (PT) technology affects the disposal concept of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). We studied how cooling in the predisposal storage period may affect the design of the emplacement area in a repository for radioactive wastes produced by a light-water-reactor nuclear system that uses PT technology. Three different fuel cycle scenarios involving PT technology were analyzed: 1) partitioning process only (separation of some fission products), 2) transmutation process only (separation and transmutation of minor actinides), and 3) both partitioning and transmutation. The necessary predisposal storage periods for some predefined emplacement configurations were determined through transient thermal analysis, and the relation between the storage period and the emplacement area was obtained. For each scenario, we also estimated the storage capacity required for the dry storage of the heat-generating waste forms. The contributions of PT technology on the storage and disposal were discussed holistically, and we noted that the coupled introduction of partitioning and transmutation processes can bring an appreciable reduction in waste management size.

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Rethinking High-Level Waste Disposal: Separate Disposal of High-Heat Radionuclides (⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs)

Cited by 50 publications

References 6 publications

Roles and effects of pyroprocessing for spent nuclear fuel management in South Korea

Roles and effects of pyroprocessing for spent nuclear fuel management in South Korea

Impact of Partitioning and Transmutation on High-Level Waste Disposal for the Fast Breeder Reactor Fuel Cycle

Impact of Partitioning and Transmutation on LWR High-Level Waste Disposal

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Rethinking High-Level Waste Disposal: Separate Disposal of High-Heat Radionuclides (90Sr and 137Cs)

Cited by 50 publications

References 6 publications

Roles and effects of pyroprocessing for spent nuclear fuel management in South Korea

Roles and effects of pyroprocessing for spent nuclear fuel management in South Korea

Impact of Partitioning and Transmutation on High-Level Waste Disposal for the Fast Breeder Reactor Fuel Cycle

Impact of Partitioning and Transmutation on LWR High-Level Waste Disposal

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Rethinking High-Level Waste Disposal: Separate Disposal of High-Heat Radionuclides (⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs)