Very informative, thank you.
What about the MOX fuel they use, is this the product of that reprocessing technology?
Re:U.S. Reenters the Nuclear Fuel Game
by Maakuth on Thursday November 16, 2023 @02:12AM
(#38286567)
Yes, I believe MOX is one option of what you can make from what's left from reprocessing. I think it's possible to make more conventional fuel there too, but then what are you going to do with the plutonium.
Reprocessing is another thing entirely. It relies on the fact that used nuclear fuel is mainly not reusable due to accumulation of neutron poisons. In reprocessing, these poisons are removed so that the rest of the fuel can be reused. This too has many practical challenges as you end up with liquid radioactive materials and a lot of it is waste. So far it has proven more practical than breeders, though. Perhaps that is because the same processes can be used to extract materials for nuclear weapons.