The danger of the wastes from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is largely determined by the presence in them of long-lived actinides, first of all, americium and curium. The solution to the problem could be to involve together with plutonium its attendant actinides in the fuel cycle of fast reactors. This article considers the technologies (reactor, fuel fabrication, and spent fuel reprocessing) that are necessary for burning actinides as part of mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel. It is shown that the concentration of actinides, produced in a fast reactor, in the fuel will not exceed 0.5% h.a. For the transmutation of actinides separated from VVER spent fuel simultaneously with plutonium, it is expedient to increase the americium proportion in the fuel to 1.2%. Consideration is given to the possibility of using carbothermal synthesis of the initial powders and tablet technology for the manufacture of mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel, as well as the combined technology of spent-fuel reprocessing, planned for realization at a pilot-demonstration power complex with the BREST-300 reactor, and their suitability for involving neptunium and americium in the fuel cycle along with plutonium and uranium.
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 133, No. 1, pp. 34–41, July, 2022.
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Khomyakov, Y., Mochalov, Y., Zherebtsov, A.A. et al. Technologies of Np, Am Afterburning in Fast Reactors with Mixed Uranium-Plutonium Nitride Fuel. At Energy 133, 35–42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-023-00969-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-023-00969-6