TRANSURANIC WASTES FROM LWR CYCLE 93 



Both as-generated (untreated) and treated wastes are, in most cases, addressed in the 

 following text. Untreated wastes are generally exposed to some form of treatment to 

 reduce activity levels, to decrease the volume to be handled, and/or to decrease the 

 mobility of the waste. Treatment processes can be as uncomplicated as a simple 

 compaction scheme or technically quite sophisticated, as with high-level waste vitrifica- 

 tion. The technology for a variety of alternative waste-treatment processes is at this time 

 commercially available or under active development (Energy Research and Development 

 Administration, 1976; U.S. Department of Energy, 1979). 



Attention is focused here on the quantities and radioactivities of those transuranic- 

 contaminated wastes generated in postfission activities involved in the hght-water-reactor 

 (LWR) fuel cycle for commercial power production only. A description is given of wastes 

 resulting from operating and decommissioning of the fuel-cycle facilities. The projected 

 waste characteristics are often necessarily conjectural owing to lack of hard data from 

 plant operating experience. 



Nuclear Power Growth 



A nuclear power generation forecast to the year 2000 is presented for the OECD nations* 

 to provide a frame of reference for the magnitude of the worldwide generation of wastes 

 (excluding those nations with centrally planned economies). Forecasts of installed nuclear 

 capacity have been decUning as a result of a downward trend in projected electric power 

 requirements from all energy sources. For example, in the 3-yr period between 1973 and 

 1976, the high and low nuclear power growth estimates for OECD nations decreased 20% 

 and 33%, respectively (Muda, Haussermann, and Mankin, 1977). Such reductions 

 generally reflect uncertainties due to lower than expected grov^h in energy use and 

 greater than anticipated delays because of concerns about safety and the environment. 



Table 1 shows the results of a 1976 estimate of the nuclear power growth for OECD 

 nations. Since 1976 an additional downward revision of from 5 to 10% in the low growth 

 estimate has been proposed (letter from R. Gene Clark, Chief, Nuclear Energy Analysis 

 Division of DOE to M. W. Shupe, DOE, Richland Operations Office, July 12, 1978). This 

 table also provides a recent projection of the nuclear power growth for the United States 

 (U.S. Department of Energy, 1978). 



Waste Descriptions and Classifications 



For the LWR fuel cycle, there are two generic operating modes to be considered, that 

 with and that without spent-fuel reprocessing. In the nonreprocessing mode, currently 

 referred to as the once-through cycle, energy values contained in irradiated fuel removed 

 from a nuclear power plant are not recovered by reprocessing and recycHng. Irradiated 

 fuel is considered a radioactive waste and after storage for some period is sent to disposal. 

 The reprocessing mode includes different alternatives, for example, the recycle of 

 uranium only or the recycle of uranium and plutonium. In this chapter we are discussing 

 the transuranium wastes resulting from the recycling of uranium and plutonium. In this 

 recycle uranium and plutonium are chemically recovered from the irradiated fuel and 

 then purified and formed into fresh fuel for generating electricity in a nuclear power 

 plant. Recycling uranium and plutonium requires a plant for processing irradiated fuels 



*The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations are Australia, 

 New Zealand, Canada, Japan, United States, and Western Europe. 



