The essentials
TOPIC
What is actually in it
Roughly 95% uranium, 1% plutonium, and a few percent fission products. The long-lived hazard is a small fraction of the mass.
TOPIC
Fast reactors close the loop
Fast neutrons fission the actinides that thermal reactors cannot. That turns a 100,000-year problem into a few-hundred-year one.
TOPIC
The real obstacle
Reprocessing is chemistry that produces separated plutonium unless deliberately designed otherwise. Policy, not engineering, sets the pace.
95%
Still uranium
<5%
True waste
FAST
Burns actinides
POLICY
Limiting factor
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Part of the Porritt Inc. energy library. Questions or corrections are welcome.
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