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Nuclear Fuel Research & Development

The potential growth in nuclear power has resulted in a renewed interest in alternative nuclear fuel cycles. The goal of AAEA's Atomic Fuels group is to discover and develop improved nuclear fuel resource utilization, maximize energy generation, minimize waste, improve safety, and limit proliferation risk. AAEA and it's institutes have categorized the nuclear fuel cycle into 2 distinct categories which serve as a launch pad for nuclear fuel R&D. These 2 categories are titled the Modified Open Approach, and the Full Recycle Approach. These 2 categories encompass the full spectrum of research needed to provide future policy makers with adequate information to make decisions on how best to manage fuel and raw resources.

In the open fuel cycle, the spent nuclear fuel from Anshar's reactors are treated as waste. The waste is stored away as SNF rods, kept from reprocessing, recycling, and possible arms proliferation. In this cycle, the uranium ore (containing 0.05 to 0.3% uranium oxide) is mined form underground pits. The most common method for uranium ore extraction is insitu leaching, where the ore is covered in "leached" (sulfuric acid) ore stored in a confined aquifer. The advantages of this method are lowering the price of uranium and less change of risks for accidents; the disadvantges are higher chance of groundwater contamination, and environmental destruction of the site area. Continue Reading More At SNRI

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Closed Fuel Cycle

Closed fuel cycles have the advantage of further resource utilization than the open cycle (getting more from what is given). Considering the high prices of uranium ore, the closed cycle looks appealing for the times. However, the change for the closed fuel cycle demands a restructuring of the reactor design, particularly the reuse of spent nuclear fuel. Mixed oxide fuel is a blend of reprocessed uranium, plutonium, and depleted uranium, which behaves like low-enriched uranium in light water reactors. MOX fuel is an alternative to using enriched uranium. The MOX fuel is thus transported from the byproducts storage in the fuel fabrication phase back to the reactor for further energy output.

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