The management of accumulated spent fuel is now an urgent problem. Questions concerning the need for reprocessing and subsequent isolation of high-level wastes are elucidated. It is shown that the BN-1200 and BREST fast reactors now under consideration for closing the fuel cycle do not permit efficient use of plutonium, because for the existing spent-fuel reprocessing technologies these reactors could be very expensive or a long cool-down time may be required, which will reduce the positive effect from closing the fuel cycle. The requirements of fast reactors that make fast reprocessing of spent fuel possible with the minimal environmental load on the fuel cycle are formulated.
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 118, No. 5, pp. 243–247, May, 2015.
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Andrianova, E.A., Davidenko, V.D. & Tsibul’skii, V.F. Prospective Fuel Loads of Reactors in a Closed Fuel Cycle of Nuclear Power. At Energy 118, 301–306 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-015-9997-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-015-9997-2