The Role of Partitioning and Transmutation in Future Nuclear Fuel Cycles

Nuclear power will continue to contribute in a significant manner to the supply of energy in the United States for a number of decades to come. Whether the level of that contribution remains at or near the current level of about 100 GWe or increases to a greater percentage of the national electrical energy supply remains to be seen. The nature of the future nuclear enterprise is difficult to foresee, depending as it does on externalities such as consumer demand, environmental issues, public acceptance, economics, and national policy. In anticipation of the continuation of nuclear electric power generation, and particularly in the continued generation of spent nuclear fuel at a rate at least equal to the current rate of more than 2,000 metric tons per year, the U.S. Department of Energy in 1999 launched a program aimed at developing the technologies for partitioning and transmutation of the transuranic elements and long-lived fission products present in spent light water reactor fuel.