[ RadSafe ] NPT, Reprocessing & Mining Issues

[Jaro]

Others think that thorium is the long-term sustainability answer:

http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Pre
ssRelease_id=bf8479e9-1b78-be3e-e031-1635aee6efa9&Month=10&Year=2008
SENS. HATCH AND REID PUSH FOR THORIUM NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE

More details & discussion at:
http://www.energyfromthorium.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=977


 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl]On
Behalf Of georgestanford1 at comcast.net
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 8:31 PM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] NPT, Reprocessing & Mining Issues



	Recycling plutonium back into thermal reactors doesn't even come close to
closing the fuel cycle or dealing with the long-term waste problem.  The
once-through cycle utilizes much less than on percent of the energy in the
mined uranium, while reprocessing as practiced, for example, by the French
scarcely brings the utilization up to one percent, if that.

	The only way to truly close the fuel cycle (and fully consume the
long-lived transuranics) is with a fast-neutron spectrum.  Fast reactors can
operate very nicely at the back end of the thermal-reactor cycle.  With fast
reactors and sensible recycling, the world could be powered for centuries
with no further mining or enrichment of uranium (once the thermal reactors
have reached the end of their useful life and have been phased out.)

	For more information, my recommendation -- completely unbiased, of
course -- is to peruse the following:
Hannum, W. H., G. E. Marsh and G. S. Stanford, “Smarter Use of Nuclear
Waste.” Scientific American, December 2005, pp 84-91.  It can be found at
<http://www.nationalcenter.org/NuclearFastReactorsSA1205.pdf>.

George Stanford
Reactor physicist, retired

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 03:42 PM 10/3/2008, NIXON, Grant wrote:
This is not my specialty. However, I'm not so sure about reprocessing
solving any environmental issues. Clearly, a lot depends on the process
used (e.g., PUREX). My recollection is that there is typically a lot of
radioactive/acidic liquid waste generated, making the overall process
dirtier that the once-through cycle. Unless there is a shortage of
uranium (or plutonium for manufacturing weapons), my understanding is
that the once-through cycle is the preferred one from an environmental
point of view.

Grant I. Nixon, Ph.D., P.Phys.
Science Specialist (Dosimetry/Physics/Engineering),
BEST Theratronics
413 March Road
Ottawa, ON  K2K 0E9
Canada
tel. (613) 591-2100 x2869
fax. (613) 591-2250


-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Otto G. Raabe
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 4:01 PM
To: Dan W McCarn; 'Perrero, Daren'; radsafe at radlab.nl
Cc: 'Peterson, Ken'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] NPT, Reprocessing & Mining Issues

At 02:27 PM 10/2/2008, Dan W McCarn wrote:
>Yes, that is my recollection as well.  I think that Carter's ban on
>reprocessing was intended to send a signal to the rest of the world
>regarding the NPT and non-proliferation, but also that the cost of a
full
>nuclear fuel cycle (as apposed to once-through) did not make it an
>economically attractive possibility.
***************************************
In this age of environmentalism, we need to stop using the industrial
term, "reprocessing".

The more publicly friendly term is "recycling".

Recycling fuel somewhat solves one of the other public concerns,
"What about the waste?"

Otto

**********************************************
Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
Center for Health & the Environment
University of California
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
E-Mail: ograabe at ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-7754   FAX: (530) 758-6140
***********************************************

--
Please reply to:
gstanford at aya.yale.edu
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