Reprocessing of Spent Fuel from NPPs?

 

 Spent Fuel Rods from NPP

 

Each regular 1000 MW Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is estimated to generate 30 tons of extremely potent radioactive waste annually, in the form of spent fuel rods. These fuel rods are normally confined in huge cooling pools at reactor sites or in dry storage casks beside the reactor. As these rods emit very lethal dose of radiation and are also extremely thermally hot, they must be stored for 30 to 60 years in a heavily shielded building and continually cooled by air or water.

Finally after an adequate cooling period, the fuel rods must eventually be packed into a container by remote control, for transportation to safe waste storage facility. The spent fuel packaging and its safe storage for periods of time, almost beyond our comprehension, are completely new and relatively untested, for which there does not seem to be any operational data.

The problem of permanent and safe disposal of highly radioactive nuclear material is everywhere, currently practically unresolved.

Reprocessing of Spent Fuel?

Addressing the apprehensions about storage and safe disposal of spent fuel rods from Nuclear Power Plants, the NPCIL is reported to have said that the entire spent fuel is not treated as waste. The storage capacity of spent fuel rods generated for more than seven years of full operation of reactors will be available at the NPP Site. After this time, the spent fuel    can be transported to a national facility for reprocessing to recover useful nuclear fuel.

Facts behind Reprocessing ? 

The spent fuel from NPPs is reported to consist of 96% non-disintegrated Uranium and 1% Plutonium. The rest of the contents are known to be non-recyclable fission products such as Ruthenium, Rhodium and Palladium. In the reprocessing plant, these fuel elements are fractionalized into pieces, the radioactive contents separated through solution process and the individual components isolated. Plutonium, Uranium and other fission products are now almost completely isolated and available. The isolated Plutonium is processed into so-called "mixed oxide fuel".( MOX), in order to be able to generate electricity. The reprocessing of uranium is not currently viable due to its impurity.

Reducing  Waste by 1% at what Cost ?

The amount of waste will be reduced by only 1%, since only the Plutonium content of the waste product is re-used. The term "Recycling" is therefore misleading because 99% of the original waste material remains in the form of non-usable, high-level waste solution.  

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