Uranium recycling: the value of reprocessed uranium

Recycled uranium differs from natural uranium in several respects: Its U-235 content lies in the range 0.6-1.4 wt %; it contains the isotopes U-236 and U-232 which are not present in natural uranium; it contains alpha active U-234 in much greater quantities; it contains trace fission products, notably technecium-99. The identity of the reprocessed fuel is lost in the reprocessing plant. In consequence, the reprocessor will not return to the customer his own uranium but substitute uranium of different isotopic composition, but having 'equivalent' value. In order to be able to express this equivalence quantitatively, a so-called 'composite value' of the fuel is defined. It expresses the value of 1 kg of the fuel in terms of equivalent amount of natural uranium. Calculated values of this composite value for different compositions of feed fuel are given. 1 fig., 1 tab