Storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste from advanced FBR fuel cycle

Nishihara, Kenji  ; Oigawa, Hiroyuki ; Nakayama, Shinichi ; Ono, Kiyoshi ; Shiotani, Hiroki

Waste management of the fast breeder reactor (FBR) fuel cycle with and without partitioning and transmutation (P&T) was investigated by focusing thermal constraints in storage and disposal facilities. The result showed that transmutation of minor actinides (MAs) is essentially effective to reduce the waste emplacement area in repository, and a combination of P&T can provide a compact disposal with a smaller emplacement area than the conventional repository design by two orders of magnitude. Cost analysis revealed that the cost for storage and disposal is comparable among the conventional light water reactor, FBR without P&T, and FBR only with MA-transmutation. The cost of disposal for FBR fuel cycle with P&T is significantly reduced by an order of magnitude from the others, while that of storage does not increase.