Selection of strategies for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle in the United Kingdom

The paper identifies the technical aspects of the three main options for the management of spent thermal reactor fuel in the United Kingdom, i.e. disposal and delayed or immediate reprocessing; compares the requirements for the treatment of thermal and fast reactor fuel; summarizes the UK position for fast reactor fuel, where reprocessing is the only feasible option; and sums up the pressures and trends in reprocessing as shown in current research and in the design of the THORP and European Demonstration Reprocessing Plant projects. The overall conclusion is that the key question is not simply whether or not reprocessing is preferable to dispoal, but also the timing of the answer. This will vary between countries. For a nation such as the UK, which has no indigenous uranium and is already involved in reprocessing, the strategic requirement to maintain the technology seems to take precedence over any minor variations which arise from time to time in the current economic balance between the options. (author). 14 refs, 1 tab