Nuclear Reprocessing: an existing alternative energy approach By: Justin Rearick-Hoefflicker

What is nuclear reprocessing? Nuclear electric power accounts for 8.3% of energy produced in the US. 1 The fuel rods that power nuclear reactors must continually be removed and replaced with new nuclear fuel. Reprocessing is extracting useful material from spent fuel and using that material as an additional energy source.

When does reprocessing occur? “ Neither a recycling/reprocessing facility nor a Federal waste repository is currently approved (licensed) in the United States, and spent fuel is in interim storage. However, the NRC is currently reviewing a license application for a new Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which would recycle surplus weapon-grade plutonium, remove impurities, and mix it with uranium oxide to form mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel pellets for use in reactor fuel assemblies.” 2

The process of reprocessing While many processes exist, the standard method for reprocessing is the PUREX method. 3 PUREX: Plutonium and Uranium Recovery by Extraction The process extracts uranium and plutonium from the spent nuclear fuel for reuse and leaves the remaining fission products.

Why reprocess? Reprocessing allows for a greater maximization of uranium and plutonium resources that power nuclear energy. This cuts back on the amount of space needed for waste storage. – Spent fuel rods are stored in nuclear fuel pools or dry cask storage. 4 – Reprocessing may be an attractive option because nuclear fuel pool storage capacity will be at or near 100% by 2015.

Why reprocess?

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For proponents of energy reform in the US, moving away from a carbon economy might necessitate increased reliance on nuclear energy, at least in the short term. Reprocessing spent fuel rods would increase nuclear fuel resource utilization and decrease the amount of needed waste storage capacity.

What’s reusable? 6

Who reprocesses? Of the world’s confirmed nuclear countries, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Japan, and Russia reprocess spent nuclear fuel. 7 The United States does not currently reprocess spent fuel rods. – Private reprocessing took place in the US for a brief period from 1966 to 1972 at the West Valley, NY facility.

Reprocessing and US policy In 1946, The Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. §2011 et seq., defined fissionable materials to include plutonium, uranium-235, and other materials determined capable of releasing substantial quantities of energy through nuclear fission. The Act created the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and transferred production and control of fissionable materials from the Manhattan Project to under the AEC.

Reprocessing and US policy In 1954, the Atomic Energy Act was amended to authorize the AEC to license commercial reactors to private actors. 8 In 1957, Chairman of the AEC, Lewis Strauss, announced a program that encouraged private reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. In 1959, Davidson Chemical Company entered negotiations with the AEC concerning commercial reprocessing.

Reprocessing and US policy In 1963, the AEC-sponsored Experimental Breeder Reactor began operating at the Argonne National Laboratory West. 9

Reprocessing and US policy In 1966, Nuclear Fuel Services, formerly Davidson Chemical, received an operating permit for a commercial reprocessing facility for the West Valley Plant, N.Y. 10 The plant operated from 1966 to 1972 reprocessing spent fuel from the defense weapons program; no commercial fuel was ever reprocessed. The plant closed permanently in 1976 after it was unable to meet regulatory requirements.

Reprocessing and US policy GE was authorized to build a reprocessing facility in Morris, IL in 1967; in 1972, GE halted construction on the facility, instead opting to obtain a license to store spent fuel. 11 In 1970, Allied-General Nuclear Services began constructing a reprocessing plant in Barnwell, SC; in 1981, the project was abandoned as being commercially impracticable. In 1974, the Energy Reorganization Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq., split the AEC into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). Licensing responsibility for nuclear facilities passed to the NRC.

Reprocessing and US policy In 1976, Exxon applied for a license to construct a reprocessing plant; the NRC took no final action on the license. 12 In October of 1976, President Ford announced that the US would no longer proceed with spent fuel recycling unless the risks of nuclear proliferation could be overcome. In 1977, President Carter affirmed that the US would suspended commercial reprocessing activity indefinitely.

Reprocessing and US policy The Nuclear Nonproliferation Act, 22 U.S.C. §3201 et seq., established export licensing criteria requiring prior US approval for reprocessing, and a guaranty that no material re-transferred is reprocessed with prior US consent. In 1981, President Reagan lifts the indefinite ban on commercial reprocessing activities.

Reprocessing and US policy In 1992, President G.H.W. Bush suspended weapons reprocessing in order to supplement US nonproliferation efforts. 13 In 1993, President Clinton affirmed US abstention from reprocessing but issued support for civil nuclear programs in Europe and Japan. In 1995, President Clinton submitted the US-EURATOM nuclear cooperation agreement to Congress; the Agreement entered into force in 1996.

Reprocessing and US policy In 2001, President Bush recommended that the US should collaborate with its international partners to develop reprocessing technologies that, among other things, are more proliferation resistant. 14 In 2006, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) initiated an engineering scale demonstration of a reprocessing method alleged to be more proliferation resistant, the UREX separation process (Uranium Extraction). A 2009 report, however, found that UREX and similar alternative reprocessing technologies only contribute to a modest reduction of proliferation risk when compared with the PUREX method. 15

Reprocessing and US policy Additionally, in 2006, the DOE requested an expression of interest from domestic and international actors of building a reprocessing facility that meets Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) goals. 16 As of 2009, President Obama ended the environmental review that was to set the ground for resumption of commercial reprocessing in the US.

Reprocessing issues Costs – Depend on various factors including reprocessing method utilized and economies of scale considerations – Govt. cost-sharing is likely preferable in order to attract private capital Proliferation – Reprocessing has occurred for 40 years without major incident – Cooperation amongst nations is likely the greatest protection against this risk

Reprocessing issues Environmental concerns – Reprocessing does not eliminate all waste from nuclear energy – Issues of storage remain – Something needed beyond Yucca Mountain 17

Reprocessing Issues Liability – For private interests to engage in reprocessing activity, especially sending spent fuel aboard to be reprocessed, the US govt. may need to underwrite potential losses associated with reprocessing risks. – Doing so would encourage investment in reprocessing initiatives both at home and abroad.

Sources 1. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Primary Energy Flow by Source and Sector, 2009, (2009). 2. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Stages of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, cycle.html (last updated Oct. 20, 2010). 3. World Nuclear Association, Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel, (last updated Oct. 21, 2010). 4. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, What We Regulate, storage.html (last updated Sept. 29, 2010). 5. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Fuel Pool Capacity, (last updated Oct. 20, 2010). 6. Supra n Safeguarding Reprocessing Facilities: Nuclear Safeguards and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Congressional Research Service, Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing: US. Policy Development, (Mar. 27, 2008). 9. Id. 10. Id. 11. Id. 12. Id. 13. Id. 14. Id. 15. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Proliferation Risk Reduction Study of Alternative Spent Fuel Processing, (July 2009). 16. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Notice of Request for Expression of Interest in a Consolidated Fuel Treatment Center to Support the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, 71 Fed. Reg (Aug. 7, 2006). 17. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Conceptual Design of Yucca Mountain Disposal Plan, (last updated Oct. 20, 2010).