Multi-recycling of plutonium and incineration of americium, curium, and technetium in PWRs

The future of nuclear power requires a clear strategy for radwaste and Plutonium management. Pressurized water reactors (PWR) and the associated fuel cycle installations represent the largest part of the French power plants (and are partly paid off). The reactors in service produce an annual 10 tons of Pu, 1.4 tons of minor actinides (MA), and 3.8 tons of long-lived fission products (LLFP). The spent fuel is reprocessed in La Hague plant to recover the energetic elements U and Pu. The latter was initially dedicated to power Fast Breeder Reactors that converted the depleted and reprocessed, thus ensuring a significant part of the French national energy resources. The shut-down of Super-Phenix, the postponement of building of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) and the relaxed need for stretching natural U resources raise the issue of Pu management. In fact, the Pu mono-recycling practiced in France since 1987 (St Laurent B1) only slows down the Pu accumulation in spent nuclear fuel, yet it is unable to stabilize the Pu inventory. Beyond the cooperation with its industrial partners, CEA investigates solutions for short and medium term Pu management thus contributing to research required for keeping nuclear power as an energy option. The range of these investigations shall cover both adaptations for light water reactors to facilitate Pu recycling and more innovative solutions concerning reactors, fuel and fuel cycle. The aim of using Pu more efficiently in PWR has led, not only for economic and non-proliferation reasons, but also for considerations related to the optimization of Pu and MA management. The mastery of Pu inventory is a requirement for all long-lived radwaste management methods. In this context, the potential of innovative PWRs has been investigated to control the Pu fluxes and to make them a milestone on the way to clean nuclear power. This paper presents the most recent results related to Pu utilization and MA and LLFP incineration like (Am+Cm) and Tc. To determine the influence of the Pu fluxes, a 1450 MWe PWR with one standard and one innovative concept (code named APA for Advanced Plutonium fuel Assembly) have been performed. A multi-recycling scenario is simulated with a 400 TWhe power plant park. (authors)