Comparison of recycle and disposal options for fissile materials arising from disarmament treaties

Under recently concluded disarmament treaties, several hundred tons of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium (Pu) will be released from nuclear warheads. These materials must be managed in a carefully safeguarded manner consistent with the objectives of these treaties. HEU disposition is fairly straightforward, since the material may be blended with natural uranium to produce low-enriched uranium fuel (LEU) that has economic value to the nuclear power industry but is not suitable for nuclear weapons. Pu disposition, on the other hand, presents greater challenges to ensure that the material is converted into a form that cannot be reused in a nuclear weapon. Long-term options include recycling the material in various types of fission reactors and disposing of it as nuclear waste. From the perspective of arms control and safeguards, which must be the top priority, it appears that two of the Pu recycle options (the all-MOx LWR and the MHTGR) and one disposal option (vitrification with HLW) would allow for the development of particularly safe programs for Pu disposition. From an economic perspective, current market conditions suggest that recycling warhead Pu as commercial fuel would be a significantly costlier way to generate electricity than continuing to burn uranium, whether the comparison is made for existing reactors or new facilities. However, this could still be a reasonable approach from an arms control perspective, yielding substantial security benefits for a modest price