Non-fertile fuels development for plutonium and high-enriched uranium dispositioning in water cooled reactors

As a result of dismantling the bomb, there is about 100 MT of excess weapons grade plutonium in the United States and about 150 MT in the Commonwealth of Independent States. In addition, there is another 1000 MT of plutonium in commercial spent fuel that may be used as degraded weapons material. This report discusses one means to disposition weapons grade plutonium is by irradiating the fuel in light water reactors (LWRs) using a non-fertile fuel based on plutonium dispersed in an oxide mixture of zirconia stabilized with calcia or yttria as a solid solution. Plutonium dispersed in a zirconia matrix offers the potential to achieve very high burnups while maintaining mechanical integrity