waste materials as fuel

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/business/AJ201408280060



Hitachi begins joint research with goal of using radioactive waste materials as fuel

August 28, 2014
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Hitachi Ltd. said Aug. 28 it is jointly working with three U.S. universities to develop a method to use transuranium elements (TRUs) as fuel and develop resource-renewable boiling water reactors (RBWRs) that can effectively use radioactive waste materials as fuel.
Hitachi, along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley, plans to evaluate the performance and safety of RBWRs, which are being developed by Hitachi and Hitachi GE Nuclear Energy Ltd.
They will also study plans for testing with a view toward practical applications with each university.
The uranium fuel used in nuclear power plants contains TRUs, which are harmful to humans, and it is estimated that it takes about 100,000 years for the radioactive properties of these materials to decay to the level of uranium ore in its natural state.
If TRUs could be effectively removed from these spent fuels, then the period of decay for the remaining radioactive waste materials could be reduced to just a few hundred years.
For this reason, research and development is being conducted around the world with the goal of developing nuclear reactors that can achieve nuclear fission in transuranium waste.
As one solution to this challenge, Hitachi has undertaken the development of RBWRs based on boiling water reactor technologies, which already have an extensive track record of applications in commercial nuclear reactors. Hitachi hopes to develop these next-generation nuclear reactors that can effectively use radioactive waste materials.





Resource-renewable boiling water reactors (Provided by Hitachi Ltd.)

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