Reprocessed uranium

Reprocessed uranium (RepU) is the uranium recovered from nuclear reprocessing, as done commercially in France, the UK and Japan and by nuclear weapons states' military plutonium production programs. This uranium makes up the bulk of the material separated during reprocessing.

Commercial

fission products by weight. Despite it often containing more fissile material than natural uranium, reuse of reprocessed uranium has not been common because of low prices in the uranium market of recent decades, and because it contains undesirable isotopes of uranium

.

Isotopic composition of reprocessed uranium^[1]
Isotope	Proportion	Characteristics
uranium-238	98.5%	Fertile material
uranium-237	0%	Around 0.001% at discharge, but half-life only 1 week. Produces soluble, long-lived geological repository. ²³⁷ Np is the feedstock for the production of ²³⁸ Pu which is used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators
uranium-236	0.4–0.6%	Neither fissile nor fertile. Affects reactivity.
uranium-235	0.5–1.0%	Fissile material
uranium-234	>0.02%	Fertile material but can affect reactivity differently^[2]
uranium-233	trace	Fissile material
uranium-232	trace	Fertile material, decay product gamma radiation making handling difficult

Given sufficiently high uranium prices, it is feasible for reprocessed uranium to be re-

fast neutron there is a chance of a (n,2n) "knockout" reaction. Depending on the characteristics of the reactor and burnup

, this can be a larger source of ²³⁴
U in spent fuel than enrichment. If fast breeder reactors ever come into widespread commercial use, reprocessed uranium, like depleted uranium, will be usable in their breeding blankets.

There have been some studies involving the use of reprocessed uranium in

reduction

/ oxidation cycles to transform nonvolatile oxides into volatile native elements and vice versa.

The direct use of recovered uranium to fuel a CANDU reactor was first demonstrated at Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant in China.^[5] The first use of re-enriched uranium in a commercial LWR was in 1994 at the Cruas Nuclear Power Plant in France.^[6]^[7]

In 2020, France, one of the countries with the biggest reprocessing capacity, held a stock of 40,020 tonnes (39,390 long tons; 44,110 short tons) of reprocessed uranium, up from 24,100 tonnes (23,700 long tons; 26,600 short tons) in 2010.

reactor grade plutonium (for immediate further processing into MOX fuel) and 1,045 tonnes (1,028 long tons; 1,152 short tons) of reprocessed uranium which is largely stockpiled. There are provisions in place for the storage of this reprocessed uranium for up to 250 years for potential future use.^[9] Given France's domestic uranium enrichment capabilities, this stockpile constitutes a strategic reserve for the case of a major disruption of uranium supply as France does not have domestic uranium mining

.

References

^ "Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel". World Nuclear Association. 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
^ "Uranium from reprocessing". Archived from the original on 2007-10-19.
^ "Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis" (PDF). Idaho National Laboratory. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-01-24.
^ "The Evolution of CANDU Fuel Cycles and Their Potential Contribution to World Peace". DUPIC.
^ Use of CANDU fuel from spent light water reactor fuel at Qinshan nuclear power plant
^ Framatome to supply EDF with reprocessed uranium fuel
^ EDF plans to restart use of reprocessed uranium in some of its reactors
^ "Recovered & depleted uranium stocks in France 2010-2030".
^ "Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel - World Nuclear Association".

confinement
Magnetic	Field-reversed configuration Levitated dipole Reversed field pinch Spheromak Stellarator Tokamak
Inertial	Bubble (acoustic) Fusor electrostatic Laser-driven Magnetized-target Z-pinch
Other	Dense plasma focus Migma Muon-catalyzed Polywell Pyroelectric

References

Further reading