Separations and Actinide Science -- 2005 Roadmap

The Separations and Actinide Science Roadmap presents a vision to establish a separations and actinide science research (SASR) base composed of people, facilities, and collaborations and provides new and innovative nuclear fuel cycle solutions to nuclear technology issues that preclude nuclear proliferation. This enabling science base will play a key role in ensuring that Idaho National Laboratory (INL) achieves its long-term vision of revitalizing nuclear energy by providing needed technologies to ensure our nation's energy sustainability and security. To that end, this roadmap suggests a 10-year journey to build a strong SASR technical capability with a clear mission to support nuclear technology development. If nuclear technology is to be used to satisfy the expected growth in U.S. electrical energy demand, the once-through fuel cycle currently in use should be reconsidered. Although the once-through fuel cycle is cost-effective and uranium is inexpensive, a once-through fuel cycle requires long-term disposal to protect the environment and public from long-lived radioactive species. The lack of a current disposal option (i.e., a licensed repository) has resulted in accumulation of more than 50,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. The process required to transition the current once-through fuel cycle to full-recycle will require considerable time and significant technical advancement. INL's extensive expertise in aqueous separations will be used to develop advanced separations processes. Computational chemistry will be expanded to support development of future processing options. In the intermediate stage of this transition, reprocessing options will be deployed, waste forms with higher loading densities and greater stability will be developed, and transmutation of long-lived fission products will be explored. SASR will support these activities using its actinide science and aqueous separations expertise. In the final stage, full recycle will be enabled by advanced reactors and reprocessing methods based on pyrochemical methods and by using different fuel cycles that do not readily produce plutonium. SASR will facilitate the deployment of advanced pyrochemical separation technology and support development of reprocessing of thorium-based reactor fuels