Advanced nuclear technologies could make use of innovative strategies like steam conversion and reprocessing to dispose of spent fuel, according to reactor developers speaking at a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee meeting this week.
At a series of virtual meetings held Monday and Tuesday, the National Academies’ Committee on Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles heard presentations from industry officials on their plans for advanced nuclear generation.
The ad hoc committee was created in response to the 2020 omnibus spending bill, which mandated a review of advanced nuclear fuel operations and waste streams. The body’s ultimate goal is to provide recommendations to the Department of Energy and Congress on the feasibility of these developing technologies. According to the bill, the committee has until August, 2022 to submit their recommendations.
At the teleconference, industry presenters touched on their strategies for the back end of the advanced fuel cycle.
Janne Wallenius, head of the Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor (SEALER) project at reactor developer LeadCold, proposed that spent fuel could be stored in a cask of frozen lead and placed in a geologic repository. Alternatively, Wallenius suggested to the committee that advanced spent fuel could be converted into a less-radioactive compound using steam.
A prototype SEALER reactor is scheduled for construction in 2024 in Oskarshamn, Sweden.
Nuclear waste could be reprocessed into “stable salts” and be reused in an advanced reactor, said Rory O’Sullivan, North American CEO for United Kingdom-based energy company Moltex.
According to the company, repurposed fuel used in their “Stable Salt Reactor-Wasteburner” (SSR-W) could be recycled multiple times, or disposed of as intermediate-level waste. A proposed SSR-W reactor is in the licensing process for construction in New Brunswick, Canada.
