Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing
Nuclear fission has been identified as a key technology for the Net Zero transition, but high costs and concerns of radioactive wastes hinder wider uptake, and fuel cycle inefficiencies hamper the technology’s long-term sustainability. Closing the fuel cycle through spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reproces...
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| Language: | English |
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EDP Sciences
2025-01-01
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| Series: | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/02/epjconf_atalante2025_01004.pdf |
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| author | Holdsworth Alistair F. Eccles Harry George Kathryn Sharrad Clint A. |
| author_facet | Holdsworth Alistair F. Eccles Harry George Kathryn Sharrad Clint A. |
| author_sort | Holdsworth Alistair F. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nuclear fission has been identified as a key technology for the Net Zero transition, but high costs and concerns of radioactive wastes hinder wider uptake, and fuel cycle inefficiencies hamper the technology’s long-term sustainability. Closing the fuel cycle through spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing is the primary method of improving sustainability, but high costs and proliferation concerns limit uptake. Current reprocessing technologies recover only the bulk U and Pu in SNF for further energy generation as MOX (mixed oxide) fuel, leaving behind a wide range of untapped, naturally scarce, high-demand, and -value fission product resources. By recovering these resources, such as the platinum group metals (PGMs – Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag), rare earth elements (REEs – Y, La to Dy), and noble gases (He, Kr, Xe), and various other useful isotopes, from SNF during reprocessing operations, the high costs incurred have the potential to be partially or completely offset, in addition to benefits from reducing waste volumes. This paper provides an overview of this concept with exploration of the most promising candidate targets and feeds within reprocessing, and the necessary actions that will be required to see this concept come to fruition in the coming decades. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7f32e090939e4fc7b14bc9c56874ce7f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2100-014X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj-art-7f32e090939e4fc7b14bc9c56874ce7f2025-02-05T10:53:04ZengEDP SciencesEPJ Web of Conferences2100-014X2025-01-013170100410.1051/epjconf/202531701004epjconf_atalante2025_01004Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During ReprocessingHoldsworth Alistair F.0Eccles Harry1George Kathryn2Sharrad Clint A.3Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Greater ManchesterUniversity of Central LancashireDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Greater ManchesterDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Greater ManchesterNuclear fission has been identified as a key technology for the Net Zero transition, but high costs and concerns of radioactive wastes hinder wider uptake, and fuel cycle inefficiencies hamper the technology’s long-term sustainability. Closing the fuel cycle through spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing is the primary method of improving sustainability, but high costs and proliferation concerns limit uptake. Current reprocessing technologies recover only the bulk U and Pu in SNF for further energy generation as MOX (mixed oxide) fuel, leaving behind a wide range of untapped, naturally scarce, high-demand, and -value fission product resources. By recovering these resources, such as the platinum group metals (PGMs – Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag), rare earth elements (REEs – Y, La to Dy), and noble gases (He, Kr, Xe), and various other useful isotopes, from SNF during reprocessing operations, the high costs incurred have the potential to be partially or completely offset, in addition to benefits from reducing waste volumes. This paper provides an overview of this concept with exploration of the most promising candidate targets and feeds within reprocessing, and the necessary actions that will be required to see this concept come to fruition in the coming decades.https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/02/epjconf_atalante2025_01004.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Holdsworth Alistair F. Eccles Harry George Kathryn Sharrad Clint A. Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing EPJ Web of Conferences |
| title | Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing |
| title_full | Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing |
| title_fullStr | Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing |
| title_short | Recovery of Strategic High-Value Fission Products from Spent Nuclear Fuel During Reprocessing |
| title_sort | recovery of strategic high value fission products from spent nuclear fuel during reprocessing |
| url | https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2025/02/epjconf_atalante2025_01004.pdf |
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