Japan to Recycle Used Nuclear Fuel Previously Made from Used Nuclear Fuel (MOX fuel) in France.

[NNadir]

Japan has already used MOX fuel made from "once through" used nuclear fuel. This is an article about a second recycling of the previously recycled fuel, which is good news, since this should make the plutonium in it have an interesting, highly proliferation resistant "isotopic vector." The "isotopic vector" refers to the distribution of plutonium isotopes, ²³⁸Pu, ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴¹Pu (depending on the cooling period) and ²⁴²Pu. Weapons grade plutonium is nearly pure ²³⁹Pu, with small traces of ²⁴⁰Pu.

The article:

French-Japanese MOX fuel recycling studies expanded

Japan's Federation of Electric Power Companies has announced that a total of 400 tonnes of used nuclear fuel, instead of the originally planned 200 tonnes, will now be transported to Orano in France for research on the reprocessing of used mixed oxide fuel.

The Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC) announced in May 2023 that it will work with Orano on demonstration research and development for the reprocessing of used mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. At the time, FEPC said that in order for Japan to continue using nuclear power generation, it was necessary to safely and reliably process and dispose of fuel, including used MOX fuel that is removed from Japanese reactors that are implementing the use of MOX fuel.

When originally announced, plans called for about 200 tonnes of used fuel (comprising about 10 tonnes of used MOX fuel and about 190 tonnes of used uranium fuel) to be sent from Kansai Electric Power Company's inventory of used fuel.

"We have [since] been working with related parties, including Orano, the contractor for reprocessing, to conduct a reprocessing demonstration study in order to obtain the technical knowledge necessary for the practical application of spent MOX fuel reprocessing, such as the properties of spent MOX fuel and its impact on reprocessing equipment, and to demonstrate that MOX fuel used at domestic nuclear power plants can be reprocessed in commercial plants," FEPC said...

...While only four Japanese reactors have so far been restarted using MOX fuel, FEPC envisages at least 12 units running on the fuel by FY2030. FEPC represents the 11 power companies, comprising nine utilities (excluding Okinawa Electric Power), Japan Atomic Power Company and the Electric Power Development Company (J-Power).

As long ago as the 1950s, Japanese nuclear energy policy recognised that the energy resource-poor country must recycle uranium and plutonium recovered from used nuclear fuel. Up until 1998, Japan sent the bulk of its used fuel to plants in France and the UK for reprocessing and MOX fabrication. However, since 1999 it has been storing used fuel in anticipation of the full-scale operation of its own reprocessing and MOX fabrication facilities...

The article goes on to say Japan plans to have its own used fuel reprocessing plant within a few years.

Uranium cannot be completely converted to plutonium in reactors operating on the thermal neutron spectrum, since the breeding ratio is less than 1 under these circumstances. The only breeding ratio in a thermal spectrum can be achieved in CANDU reactors (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors, PHWR) if the fuel contains thorium and, ideally, plutonium as well as uranium. (There are not enough of these on the planet in my view, certainly not enough to scale up nuclear energy at a rate sufficient to eliminate enrichment plants in the near term.)

100% of uranium can be consumed in fast neutron spectrum reactors, and several interesting designs are available for scaling, and one can certainly imagine many more types of such reactors. (I'm a "breed and burn" kind of guy.)

Japan's Monju fast breeder reactor was a failure overall - I'm certainly not a sodium coolant kind of guy, but the Monju like the Phoenix and super Phoenix were sodium cooled - but much was learned in its operations.

[applegrove]

1. CANDU Reactors are Canadian. I didn't realize they were special till

I read something 10 days ago. Glad they can recycle some fuel because storage of spent rods is the worst. I go back and forth on nuclear. Better than coal though.

[NNadir]

2. Yes they are. India has an endogenous version and several other countries...

...have them: South Korea, Romania, and China, I believe.

They can run on uranium extracted from used nuclear fuel in a cycle known as the Dupic cycle.

Chris Keefer, a Canadian physician who has a second career as a nuclear energy advocate, has argued strongly that Canada should want no part of US nuclear power technology and should rely wholly on Canadian designs, Canadian fuel, and Canadian manufacturing. This is certainly understandable as the US has gone insane and is led by a dangerous criminal imperialist. However, it eliminates the potential to exploit the real advantage of the Candu, which is to increase the world inventory of fissionable nuclides without relying on enrichment. Such a program would reduce, even eliminate, the need for uranium mining.

[applegrove]

3. Wow!