[en] In France the complete closure of the fuel cycle can be reached in 3 steps. The first step relies on the improvement of the present fuel cycle by implementing the use of reprocessed uranium (URT) and by enlarging the use of MOX fuel from 900 MW to 1300 MW PWR. The first loading of URT fuel is planned in 2023. The second step will be the multi-recycling of plutonium. The loading of a test fuel assembly with multi-recycled Pu in a PWR core could be made in 2025-2028 and the industrial deployment may be made in 2040 at the soonest. The third step implies the development of a fleet of fast reactors that will allow a limitless recycling of spent fuels and no necessity of using enriched natural uranium. (A.C.)

[en] The results of three studies sponsored by the Atomic Industrial Forum are summarized. The studies dealt with legal aspects, economic impact, and safeguards considerations of the NRC provisional plan for plutonium recycle. (DG)

[en] Based on the reference case of a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility this paper defines various improvements or different plutonium fuel concepts which could reduce proliferation risks and yield economy in processing. The paper considers in turn: co-location, co-conversion and co-processing. It concludes that co-location and co-conversion could be successfully applied in the medium term on an industrial scale

No abstract available

[en] The amount of plutonium produced is estimated. A survey of fuel cycles employed to date and of the use of plutonium is set up. The existing safety analyses are registered and characterized. Possible fuel cycle alternatives are registered, the state-of-the-art in the various fuel cycle concepts are examined, intervention of third parties and subnational deviation are discussed. (DG)

[en] A brief overview on the Thorium fuel cycle technology will be described first. Based on the published information, the potential advantages and technical characteristics of the Thorium fuel utilization technologies are described in detail. Special emphasis will be placed on the technological feasibility and maturity of the methods to examine the practicability of their actual implementation in the near future. Then, realistic and possible ways to the deploy of the Thorium fuels utilization are discussed in terms of both value of the implementation and the technological feasibility and practicability. (author)

[en] A summary is given of the 1978 status of fuel recycle technology, along with the research and development (R and D) which is required prior to commercialization of fuel recycle. The fuel cycles consider use of uranium, thorium, or mixed uranium--thorium-based fuels; the reactor types include Light Water Reactors (LWRs), Spectral Shift Controlled Reactors (SSCRs), Heavy Water Reactors (HWRs), High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGRs), Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (LMFBRs), and Gas-Cooled Fast Reactors (GCFRs). Estimates of the schedules and costs for implementing the various fuel cycles in the different reactor types are given, and include those for demonstration/pilot plants. The technical areas cover fuel fabrication/refabrication, fuel reprocessing, fuel qualification, and waste treatment

[en] The following possibilities are examined for stretching the nuclear fuel supply: (1) fast breeder reactors, (2) thorium cycle, (3) heavy water reactors, (4) better isotope separation, and (5) electronuclear boosting

[en] The paper reviews the technical status of plutonium recycle in thermal reactors in the Foratom countries and assesses the prospect for it becoming established in the future with the implicit assumptions that uranium oxide reprocessing capacity will be installed commensurate with the projected programmes for thermal reactor installation and that there will be no insuperable environmental, security or safeguards obstacles to the use of plutonium as a fuel. It is argued that the feasibility of using plutonium as an alternative to ²³⁵U as the fuel for thermal reactors, particularly LWRs, has been extensively demonstrated by a number of Foratom countries and the main problem areas are fuel fabrication and fuel reprocessing. Mixed-oxide fuel fabrication has been well established on the prototype plant scale using low-irradiation plutonium, but it is recognized that the future design of production-scale plants will need to cater for the significantly higher radiation levels from high burnup plutonium and meet stricter environmental requirements on operator dosage and waste arisings. The main constraint on the establishment of recycle up to now has been the lack of available plutonium owing to the absence of significant uranium-oxide fuel reprocessing capacity. An assessment of the plutonium arisings in Europe, based on the projected uranium-oxide reprocessing capacity, shows that by 1990 plutonium, surplus to FBR requirements, should be accumulating by about 10t/a, sufficient to fuel about 8000MW(e) of LWRs. A further constraint would then be the availability and technical problems of mixed-oxide reprocessing, which is one of the areas identified for international collaboration. It is concluded that whilst there is unlikely to be substantial recycle of plutonium in thermal reactors in the Foratom countries before the early 1990s, an incentive could possibly arise about that time. The strength of this incentive will depend on a number of factors including the status of the fast breeder reactor, the cost and availability of uranium ore and the desirability of recycling plutonium from security considerations. (author)

[en] An assessment of the impact of utilizing the ²³³U/thorium fuel cycle in the U.S. nuclear economy is strongly dependent upon several decisions involving nuclear energy policy. These decisions include: (1) to recycle or not recycle fissile material; (2) if fissile material is recycled, to recycle plutonium, ²³³U, or both; and (3) to deploy or not to deploy advanced reactor designs such as Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR's), High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGR's), and Canadian Deuterium Uranium Reactors (CANDU's). This report examines the role of thorium in the context of the above policy decisions while focusing special attention on economics and resource utilization