Field Report: Discover pragmatic examples of customer benefits
12th shipment of vitrified nuclear waste from France to Germany (in french)
Compacting structural and technological waste processing active liquid effluents
24 hours in La Hague
Eleventh shipment of vitrified nuclear waste from France to Germany (in french)
"Environmental report MELOX 2008" [FR]
Covering the complete cycle - brochure
MELOX, world leader in the fabrication of MOX
The nuclear power cycle - brochure
La Hague Plant brochure
Recycling benefits
Depending on whether it is considered as non‑reusable waste or as a recyclable product, 2 used fuel management methods can apply: recycling or disposal. The recycling of used fuel and the recycling of the material it contains enables us to save natural uranium resources and to reduce the volume and toxicity of end waste.
Used fuel: dwindling performance
In a reactor, a fuel assembly releases energy thanks to the fission of uranium nuclei. Fission occurs through an explosion, usually caused by the impact of a neutron and an atom nucleus, resulting in a split into 2 smaller nuclei. This phenomenon also produces the emission of neutrons, radiation and a significant release of heat.
While the fuel is in the reactor, the quantity of fission products increases, while the number of fissile atoms is reduced. This is only partially compensated by the appearance of plutonium, which is also fissile.
The fuel becomes less and less efficient, and ends up being unfit for purpose. It needs to be replaced by new fuel.
Recycling the used fuel: new energy resources
Once discharged from the reactor, the used fuel contains:
- 94 to 95% uranium and 1% plutonium, both recyclable as "new" fuel for nuclear power plants in the form of MOX (based on plutonium and uranium) or re-enriched processed uranium.
- 4% is made up of non-recyclable end waste (fission products and minor actinides).
The plutonium (1%) produced over the service life of the fuel in the reactor still has significant energy potential: a single gram of plutonium holds as much energy as produced by the combustion of a ton of oil (and of 100 grams of uranium).
The global nuclear capability of light water reactors generates approximately 7,000 tons of used fuel each year. Stores of used fuel accumulated across the world amounted to somewhere in the region of 172,000 tons of heavy metal by late 2007, of which 32,000 have been recycled.
Recycling plutonium and uranium has a number of advantages:
- A 25% saving in natural uranium resources
- A five-fold decrease in the volume of waste, and a ten-fold reduction in its toxicity
- The energy expenditure necessary for the enrichment of this uranium is avoided
- The reconversion for civil purposes of significant quantities of plutonium from the dismantling of nuclear weapons declared surplus by the United States and Russia
Nuclear fuel: advantages of the closed cycle
Fabrication, logistics, dismantling: AREVA’s Back End division implements the various aspects of the closed cycle, a solution for recycling nuclear fuel that proves more economical and environmentally friendly. This educational animation presents its properties.
The distinction between a closed fuel cycle and an open cycle rests on the method of managing the used fuel.
There are currently 2 ways to manage used fuel:
The open cycle: used fuel is considered as waste
When used fuel is considered as waste, and therefore not reusable, we talk about an "open cycle".
It is stored in pools or in dry storage systems in purpose-built sites. Storage solutions currently on the market enable electricity companies to manage their volumes over a period of several decades. This is the option chosen by, for example, Sweden, Finland and Canada.
The closed cycle: used fuel is recycled
When the used fuel from reactors is recycled, we are talking about a "closed cycle".
It is processed in order to recover recyclable materials. These are subsequently used in the fabrication of new fuel. This option has been chosen by France, Japan and Russia, for example.
