Long-term health risk comparison of accelerator transmutation of waste concepts

In this paper, the authors examine two proposed spent-fuel transmutation technologies with respect to the compositions and potential health effects of the wastes (repository source terms) that emerge from them. These are the accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW) concept being developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the PHOENIX concept being developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The main criterion for the comparison is the long-term hazard of transmuted fuel to the biosphere as measured by its ingestion toxicity. They assume that the long-term hazard is controlled by the transport of key source radionuclides to the accessible boundary. Heat generation in the repository, determined by source term decay heat, is also compared as an indication of potential effects on repository design (i.e., areal loading)