A Comprehensive Approach to Deal with the Nuclear Waste Problem

It is desirable to devise a solution for the fuel cycle back-end that is acceptable from the society as well as technologically and economically viable. While satisfactory technological solutions exist, they only address portions of the overall problem. A fully integrated effective solution satisfying all public concerns has yet to be developed. In particular, we aim to establish a comprehensive requirements-driven approach. In this approach, requirements are defined for the high-level wastes with the intent not only to satisfy all technical constraints but also to make them 'acceptable' to the public perception. Only then, the best mix of nuclear reactors, reprocessing and fuel forms is examined to determine an effective, viable overall system. One intended benefit of the proposed strategy is that there is no a priori bias for or against any specific nuclear system. In fact, a mix of several different systems will likely provide an optimum solution, promoting collaboration between the relevant industry and research entities in the fuel-cycle back-end activities.