How is spent nuclear fuel reprocessed?

PUREX, the current standard method, is an acronym standing for Plutonium and Uranium Recovery by EXtraction. The PUREX process is a liquid-liquid extraction method used to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, to extract uranium and plutonium, independent of each other, from the fission products.

What happens to leftover nuclear waste?

Right now, all of the nuclear waste that a power plant generates in its entire lifetime is stored on-site in dry casks. A permanent disposal site for used nuclear fuel has been planned for Yucca Mountain, Nevada, since 1987, but political issues keep it from becoming a reality.

What is nuclear fuel used for?

Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing and sustaining nuclear fission.

What is nuclear fuel reprocessing?

Nuclear fuel reprocessing is the separation of irradiated nuclear fuel into potentially useful product materials and waste. The separation is accomplished by a combination of mechanical, chemical and physical processes.

Why do we reprocess nuclear waste?

Conservation of uranium resources and improved management of radioactive wastes, along with an increase of approximately 15\% of the energy from the fuel (due to plutonium recycle) are the primary motivations for reprocessing. In principle, many of the constituents of irradiated nuclear fuel can be recycled for some future use.

What is the best way to dispose of spent nuclear waste?

Approximately one-half of the spent nuclear fuel discharged annually around the world is slated for reprocessing, and the other half is slated for direct disposal. A practical argument in favor of reprocessing is that though uranium may be plentiful, land suitable for the disposal of nuclear waste is not.

What happens to spent nuclear fuel in a nuclear reactor?

In the second fuel cycle, all spent fuel would be reprocessed and the plutonium extracted from reprocessing would be used as new fuel in advanced, yet-to-be-developed “fast burner” reactors. The third scenario is similar to the second, except that the recovered plutonium would be used in both fast reactors and current-generation “thermal” reactors.