Nuclear energy and waste management; Pyroprocess for system symbiosis

Ogawa, Toru; Minato, Kazuo ; Okamoto, Yoshihiro  ; Nishihara, Kenji  

The actinide management has become a key issue in nuclear energy due to increasing proliferation concern and long-term environmental perception. The better way of waste management will be made by system symbiosis: a combination of light-water reactor and fast reactor and/or accelerator-driven transmutation system should be sought. The new recycling technology should be able to achieve good economy with smaller plants, which can process fuels from different types of reactors on a common technical basis. Pyroprocess with the use of molten salts is regarded as the strong candidate for such recycling technology. In JAEA, the first laboratory for the high temperature chemistry of transuranium elements, mainly Am and Cm, has been established. The fundamental data on the molten-salt chemistry of transuranium oxides and nitrides will be combined with the computer code for predicting the molten-salts electrolytic processes.