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Spent fuel recycling and conditioning topic of U.S.-Japan meeting
Officials with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management discussed spent nuclear fuel recycling and conditioning with counterparts from Japan during the 13th U.S.-Japan Technical Meeting of the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group, held recently in Santa Fe, N.M.
Fergus G. F. Gibb, Karl P. Travis, Neil A. McTaggart, David Burley, Kevin W. Hesketh
Nuclear Technology | Volume 163 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 62-73
Technical Paper | High-Level Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3970
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Disposal in 4- to 5-km-deep boreholes offers a safe, secure, environmentally sound, and potentially economic solution for high-level radioactive wastes, including spent fuel and fissile materials. Three versions of such disposals are under investigation: two variants of low-temperature disposal for low-heat-generating wastes and a high-temperature one for wastes generating sufficient heat to partly melt the host rock. A numerical model for the conductive transfer of heat is used to calculate the spatial and temporal distribution of temperature in and around these disposals. Sample solutions are given for two cases of each of the disposal versions, and the outcomes are discussed in the context of their significance for the safety and viability of the disposal. It is concluded that one or other of the three versions of deep borehole disposal could accommodate almost any type of high-level waste.