Laka Foundation

Publication Laka-library:
Plutonium Fuel. An Assessment (1989)

AuthorNEA
Date1989
Classification 6.01.2.56/09 (PLUTONIUM - MOX & POSSIBLE RE-USE WEAPONS PU / HEU)
Front

From the publication:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

Ever since the 1950s, plutonium, used in fast reactors, has been seen as the key 
to unlocking the vast energy resource contained in the world's uranium reserves. 
However, the reductions in expected nuclear reactor installation rates, combined 
with discovery of additional uranium, have led to a lengthening in the perceived 
time interval before fast reactors, the most effective users of plutonium, will make 
large demands on plutonium supplies. There are several options concerning its use 
or storage in the meantime.

This report sets out the facts and current views about plutonium and its civil use, 
both now and in the medium term future. It explains the factors influencing the 
choice of fuel options and illustrates how economic and logistic assessments of 
the alternatives can be undertaken. Non-proliferation issues were specifically 
excluded from the study but the Working Group stresses their importance in 
decisions on the use and management of plutonium and spent nuclear fuel.

Nothing in the report contradicts in any way the general findings of the 
International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation concerning the use of plutonium 
or of the previous Nuclear Energy Agency study on the Economics of the 
Nuclear Fuel Cycle.

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