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JessicaChoi
Mr.Burchett
HonorsGovernmentPeriod5
2November2015
MockCongressResearchPaper:NuclearReprocessing
Woulditbeamesmerizingorabonechillingsighttoseethesunsetoveramountain
coveredinilluminatedneonblueflowers?Nuclearenergy,withitsmeritofzerogreenhousegas
emission,isbecominganalternativeenergydarkhorse.However,itsimultaneouslyfacesan
extremelypressingenvironmentalhurdle:thedisposalofradioactivenuclearwaste,especially
HighLevelWaste(HLW)thatincludesspentfuelrods.TheUnitedStateshasmainlybeen
researchingandpursuingadirectdisposalmethodforseveraldecades,butremainswithouta
permanentstorageforHLW,andnuclearpowerplantsinthecountryarestoringtheirwastesin
temporarypoolsonsite,increasingtheriskofcatastrophicnuclearaccidents.Otherproposalsfor
thedisposalofnuclearwastesuchdumpingitintotheseaandusingittopowerspacecraftsare
rejectedduetoeconomic,environmental,andhealthconcerns.Therefore,nuclearreprocessing,
anadvancedtechnologythattakesinspentfuelrodsandfabricatesnewones,mustberesearched
furtherbecauseitallowsforamoreeffectiveutilizationofuranium,reducedwastegeneration,
andproliferationresistantextractionoffissionablematerials.
Nuclearreprocessingimprovesresourceutilizationbyrecyclingtheuraniumleftinspent
fuels.Fuelelementsinanoperatingreactorareusefulfor3to7years,duringwhichtheybecome
highlyradioactiveandhot.IntheUnitedStates,oncethesespentfuelsareremovedfromthe
reactors,theyaresimplyconsideredwasteandstoredforcoolingpendingdisposal.However,95

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to96percentofspentfuelconsistsofuraniumwithanenrichmentlevelatorhigherthanthatof
naturaluraniumand1percentofplutonium.Oftheremainingfuel,only0.1percentiscomposed
ofotheractinides,and3to4percentoffissionproducts(StorageandDisposal).Thismeans
that,withthedirectdisposalmethod,96to97percentofmineduraniumwouldbediscarded
withouteverservingitspurposeofprovidingenergy.Thereremain5.5millionmetrictonsof
uranium(U)thatcanbeeconomicallyharvested,andatthecurrentusagerateof65,000metric
tonsofUayear,thisreservewilllastforabout85years(SimpsonandLaw).Givensucha
limitedamount,discarding97percentofuraniumisparticularlywasteful.Reprocessing,onthe
otherhand,canreducetheusageofnaturaluraniumbyabout10to30percent(Simpsonand
Law),andthuscanallowforamoreefficientutilizationofuraniumresources.Theuraniumand
plutoniumthatconstituteaspentfuelcanbeextractedthroughPlutoniumUraniumRedox
Extraction,orPUREX,aprocessinwhichspentfuelsrodsarechoppedupanddissolvedina
concentratednitricacidsolutiontoseparatetheuraniumandplutoniumneededforthe
fabricationofnewfuelrods(Tsoulfanidis275).Aftertheseparation,plutoniumismixedwith
uraniumtoproduceamixedoxidefuelcalledMOXthatcanbeusedinreactorseverysixgrams
ofMOXpelletsholdanequivalentamountofenergyasonetonofcoal(WhatisNuclear).The
productionofenergyusingMOXfuelshasnearzerogreenhousegasemission,andwhen
comparedwiththeamountofpollutiononetonofcoalcauses,MOXhasaclearadvantage.
Nonetheless,theprocessoffabricatingMOXfueldoesproducessomegreenhousegases,and
therefore,despitethebenefitsofreprocessingtoimproveresourceutilizationandincreased
energyoutput,itmustberesearchedfurther.

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Anotherbenefitofnuclearreprocessingisthatthe
solid
HLWproducedfromtheprocess
allowsforasafer,easier,andshorterstorage.In2010,theDepartmentofEnergywithdrewits
projecttodevelopNevadasYuccaMountainasthenationspermanentnuclearfueldisposalsite
partlyduetolocaloppositionsconcerningtheradiationhazardsoftheundergroundfuelsandthe
contaminationofgroundwater.Infact,someradioactiveisotopesinspentfuelssuchTc99,
Se79,andI129aremobileinwaterandrequireasolutionthatreducestheirmobility.Innuclear
reprocessing,thewasteispowdered,mixedwithglassformingchemicalssuchasamorphous
borosilicates,meltedtogetheratapproximately1000C,andthenpouredintoacontainment
vesselwhereitcoolstoformaglass.Amorphousborosilicatehasbeenidentifiedtobecapable
ofpreventingradioactivenuclidesfrommobilizing,andstudiesofarchaeologicalglasseshave
alsoshownanimmobilizationofnuclidesduringwhentheyweremostradioactive(Thompson).
Furthermore,asuraniumandplutoniumaresetasideduringthereprocessingtobeusedagain,
andthewasteconsistsalmostentirelyoffissionproductsandminoractinides,theradiotoxicity
ofthevitrifiedwastearelowerandthustakeashortertimetoreachthebaselineradiotoxicityof
uraniumore(Crossland456).Thismeansthatthevitrifiedwastefromnuclearprocessing
providesawaytoalleviatetwooftheconcernsthatledtotheshutdownofYuccaMountain
projectbypreventingradioactivenuclidesfromcontaminatinggroundwaterandbyhavingthe
wasteundergroundbelessradioactiveforalesstime.However,thispromisingaspectfacesa
seriouschallengebyanotherformofitsownwaste:wasteofalltheliquidsthattouchedspent
fuels.FrancesLaHague,worldsbiggestreprocessingfacility,discharges100millionlitersof
liquidwasteintotheEnglishChanneleachyear,pollutingtheoceanallthewaytothe
ArcticandpromptingelevenwesternEuropeancountrieshaveaskFrancetostopreprocessing

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(Biello).EvenifvitrifyingHLWmakesundergroundstoragesafer,itwouldnotbeenoughofa
justificationtoeatradioactive,mutatedfish.Therefore,wastegenerationisdefinitelyanaspect
ofnuclearreprocessingthatholdsmuchpromisebutonlywithfurtherresearch.
Thirdly,nuclearreprocessingcanbemadeproliferationresistantbyexcludingplutonium
fromtheelementsbeingextracted.InthecurrentlymostwidelyusedPUREXmethod,the
plutoniumseparatedtomakeMOXfuelisofnuclearweapongrade.Thus,in1976,theUnited
StatesabandonedreprocessingbecausetheGeraldFordadministrationfearednuclear
proliferationbyterrorists.Technically,alluraniumfuelsthatgointothereactorwithout
plutoniumstartproducingplutoniumwhentheneutronsreleasedbyfissioninguraniumatoms
interactwithotheruraniumatomstoformplutonium(Backgrounder).Thismeansthatall
nuclearfuelsbecomeMOXfueloncetheybegintofission.However,itistheseparationof
weapongradeplutoniumthatcausestheproliferationfears,andUREXandcrownethershavea
potentialtolessensuchfear.IntheUREXprocess,avariationofPUREX,uraniumisseparated
withoutrecoveringplutoniumbyaddingacetohydroxamicacid(SimpsonandLaw).Withcrown
ethers,theonlythingneededforfabricationofnewfuelsistheuranylion([UO]).Crown
ethersareringshapedmoleculestypicallyconsistedofsixoxygenatomsintheirsrings.Thesize
oftheringdetermineswhichcationsthecrownetherswillextractfromanaqueoussolution,and
thecrownetherwitheightoxygenatoms,withitsringapproximatelythesizeofuraniumatoms,
canextractonlytheuranylions(BolgrenandMenees9).Spentfuels,whentheyaredisposed
withoutbeingreprocessed,carrytheirplutoniumintotheirundergroundrepository.Because
plutoniumbecomesapartofthewasteinreprocessingthroughUREXorcrownethers,itcanbe
disposedundergroundlikefuelsthataredisposeddirectly,andthisreducestheriskassociated

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withisolatedplutonium.Thesetwomethodsofreprocessing,however,havenotreplaced
PUREXbecauseofthelackofresearch,andtherefore,moreresearchneedstobeconductedto
developamoreproliferationresistantreprocessingmethod.
Manyarguethatafurtherresearchintonuclearreprocessingisnotworththeeffort
becausereprocessingdoesnoteliminatetheneedfordisposalsite.Nuclearreprocessingindeed
requiresastorageforthevitrifiedwastesandliquidwaste.However,commercialnuclearpower
plantsintheU.S.havegeneratedover70,000metrictonsofspentfuelwiththeinventory
increasingbyabout2,200metrictonsayearinfact,ifthespentfuelsweretobestackedsideby
side,therewouldbeenoughspentfuelstocoverafootballfieldover17metersdeep(Disposal
ofHighLevel),andspentfuelpoolcapacitywillbenear100%in2015(NuclearFuel).A
waytoslowdownthewasteproductionorawaytoreusethewastemustbedeveloped,and
reprocessingallowsspentfuelstobeutilizedoncemoreandthevitrifiedwastesreducethe
amountofstoragespaceneeded.Furthermore,fuelsthatarediscardedafteroneuserequirea
minimumdisposalperiodof250,000yearswhereasactinideresultsfromreprocessingrequirea
disposaltimeofperhapslessthan1,000years(Taylor10).250,000yearsisatimeperiodlonger
thanhumancivilizationhasexistedonearth,andalthoughthespentfuelrepositorieswillbe
undergroundandhenceisolatedfromhumaninteraction,thereisanimmensechallengeof
constructingandmaintaininganengineeredsystemthatcanoutlivethetimespanthehuman
civilizationhasthusfarexisted.Anotherpointagainstconductingresearchonnuclear
reprocessingisthatitcoststoomuchtoconductsuchintensiveresearchinfact,approximately
$20millionwereincreasedforDoEsbudgetfortheresearchofspentfuelmanagementin2016.
However,therequestedbudgetfortheFuelCycleResearchandDevelopment(FCRD)program

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for2016is$217,760,000with$48,700,000directedtowardsadvancedfuelmanagement
research(UnitedStates).Thisisalreadynearlyonethirdofthetotalproposedbudgetforthe
FCRDprogram,andtheamountstillinneedcanberaisedbycollectingnuclearwastefeesfrom
nuclearpowerplantsagain.OnMay16,2014,theU.S.CourtofAppealsfortheDistrictof
ColumbiaCircuitorderedDoEtostopcollectingnuclearwastefee,whichtotaledtoabout$750
millionperyearthefeecollectionreliedprimarilyonthecostprojectedfortheYuccaMountain
site,andwiththeYuccaMountainrepositoryterminatedbytheAdministration,thenew
estimatedcostprojectionfornuclearwastemanagementwastoovague(Holt12).Ifthenuclear
wastefeecanbecollectedagainwithaclearercostprojectionforaresearch,thebudgetfor
nuclearreprocessingcanreachonethirdofthetotalproposedbudget.Therefore,inadditionto
providingawaytomakeundergrounddisposalmoreplausible,aresearchintonuclear
reprocessingwillnotcauseastaggeringchangeinDoEsspending.
Despitetheconcernsrelatedwithnuclearreprocessing,itholdsahopefulprospectto
allowamoreeffectiveresourceutilization,reducewastegeneration,andmakenuclearpower
moreresistanttoproliferation.AsmuchasithasbenefittedtheU.S.energyproduction,nuclear
powerhasproducedagraveproblemofwastedisposalthatcannotbeleftforthefuture
generationstohandle.NuclearpowerhasbeenapartofU.S.energygenerationfortoolongto
meetanabruptend,andtherefore,moreresearchintonuclearreprocessingmustbeconductedto
excavateabetterwaytomanagepastandoncomingnuclearwastes.

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