Nuclear energy and waste management – pyroprocess for system symbiosis

The actinide management has become a key issue in nuclear energy. Recovering and fissioning transuranium elements reduce the long-term proliferation risks and the environmental burden. The better way of waste management will be made by system symbiosis: a combination of light-water reactor and fast reactor and/or accelerator-driven transmutation system should be sought. The new recycling technology should be able to achieve good economy with smaller plants, which can process fuels from different types of reactors on a common technical basis. Ease in handling the higher heat load of transuranium nuclides is also important. Pyroprocesses with the use of molten salts are regarded as the strong candidate for such recycling technology. In JAEA, the first laboratory for the high-temperature chemistry of Am and Cm has been established. The fundamental data will be combined with the computer code for predicting the molten-salts electrolytic processes.