Re: Do CANDU reactors produce (net) nuclear waste?


"Alex Terrell" <alexterrell@xxxxxxxxx> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:1177765474.341114.73660@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was looking up the CANDU reactor design.

There's a description at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU

An interesting piece states:
"Recyling of LWR fuel does not necessarily need to involve a
reprocessing step. Fuel cycle tests have also included the DUPIC fuel
cycle, or direct use of spent PWR fuel in CANDU, where used fuel from
a pressurized water reactor is packaged into a CANDU fuel bundle with
only physical reprocessing (cut into pieces) but no chemical
reprocessing. Again, where light-water reactors require the reactivity

I don' understand how it's possible to recycle Lwr fuel rods with no
reprocessing,at least separation of uranium from neutron "poisons" fission
products; if criticality is still possible,it's however a great loss in
terms of energy "wasted"









associated with enriched fuel, the DUPIC fuel cycle is possible in a
CANDU reactor due to the neutron economy which allows for the low
reactivity of natural uranium and used enriched fuel."


In short, it seems that "waste" from a normal reactor can be used as
fuel for a CANDU reactor. What waste though does a CANDU reactor
produce?

If a CANDU reactor's waste is no worse than waste from a normal
reactor, then such a reactor would generate power without adding to
the waste problem.

Is that correct?



.

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