United States of America [National Strategies for Fuel Recycling]

The United States of America anticipate the expanded use of nuclear energy worldwide and countries will need to face the very important issues of effectively dealing with SNF and high level liquid waste. Former US administrations promoted the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) and Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) initiatives for managing TRU elements via advanced fuel cycle technology. The GNEP programme included plans to implement a pilot plant fuel cycle facility and a large scale reprocessing plant. However, these initiatives were later terminated. To focus on the SNF problem, a BRC was launched in 2010 to evaluate existing fuel cycle technologies and R&D programmes in terms of multiple criteria, which included cost, safety, resource utilization and sustainability, and the promotion of nuclear non proliferation and counter-terrorism goals. The BRC recommended pursuing advances in nuclear energy technology with potential to deliver an array of benefits. Effort is needed to improve the safety and performance of existing LWRs, and SNF and HLW storage, transport, and disposal systems. It called for innovations with potentially large advantages over current technologies for the long term.