Nuclear waste Use fast reactors to burn plutonium

Abstract

Frank von Hippel and colleagues review some disposal options for radioactive plutonium waste ( Nature 485 , 167 – 168 ; 2012 ). Another option is the profitable consumption of plutonium from thermal nuclear plants in a fast-spectrum breeder reactor with fuel recycling. A prototype Integral Fast Reactor was operated at the Argonne West National Laboratory in Idaho for 30 years until 1994. 'Burning' spent nuclear fuel produces a fraction of the waste of current reactors, and it...