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Modern and future nuclear fuel cycles and the relationship with nuclear waste management
Author(s) -
Hannum William H.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: energy and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.158
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 2041-840X
pISSN - 2041-8396
DOI - 10.1002/wene.99
Subject(s) - nuclear power , nuclear fuel cycle , spent nuclear fuel , nuclear fuel , radioactive waste , radiological weapon , depleted uranium , fuel cycle , waste management , hazard , uranium , environmental science , environmental economics , business , risk analysis (engineering) , engineering , nuclear engineering , economics , chemistry , ecology , radiochemistry , biology , materials science , organic chemistry , metallurgy
Discussions of nuclear fuel cycles and nuclear waste typically focus on very long‐term radiological hazards and on concerns over proliferation of nuclear weapons. While there are technical solutions to address the radiological hazards for any of the various feasible fuel cycles, there are substantial practical differences that may influence both the cost and political acceptability of waste disposal options. Only full recycle reduces the actual long‐term hazard in a major way. Efficient use of the energy content of uranium will eventually require some form of recycle of used nuclear fuel, but with known recoverable uranium resources, this is not an urgent concern. Proliferation concerns differ among the various fuel cycles and each presents its own challenges, but ultimately, the differences in proliferation risks are more political than technical. At this point, the actual cost of any of the options for closing the fuel cycle is not adequately known to provide guidance. WIREs Energy Environ 2014, 3:323–329. doi: 10.1002/wene.99 This article is categorized under: Nuclear Power > Science and Materials