Publication Laka-library:
Regaining security -A guide to the costs of disposing of plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium (1997)
| Author | William J.Weida |
| Date | 1997 |
| Classification | 6.01.2.56/10 (PLUTONIUM - MOX & POSSIBLE RE-USE WEAPONS PU / HEU) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
Preface and executive summary This book shows that costs of disposing of nuclear materials are most likely to be increased by subsidies to disposition programs, by increased volumes of waste from reprocessing, by increased handling of nuclear materials, and by technologically unproved methods of disposition. For economic reasons, plutonium is not a viable fuel for commercial reactors, and highly enriched uranium downblending faces the same unfavorable future as the nuclear power industry. Transmutation, which has high technological uncertainty and uses reprocessing is also not viable. This leaves only vitrification and a few surface or geological disposal methods as economically viable methods for disposition - the choice between them can be based on time, security and environmental concerns. Because all aspects of decisions concerning disposition of nuclear materials are technically difficult, every effort has been made to explain the economics of disposition in a manner that is understandable to the informed lay person. To assist in making economic comparisons between disposition techniques, all costs in this book have been converted to 1996 dollars. In addition, the executive summary section that follows will act both as a general guide to the content of the chapters and as a preview of the major conclusions and findings of the book. A complete glossary is included in the back of the book to assist the reader with the many specialized terms and acronyms used to describe nuclear issues, and a collection of costs for commonly discussed disposition options and factors likely to be the major cost drivers in disposition are both presented in the final chapters.
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