Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

Taylor & Francis (Routledge), Science & Global Security, 3-4(3), p. 161-213

DOI: 10.1080/08929889308426383

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Disposition of separated plutonium

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

In the immediate term, plutonium, recovered from dismantled nuclear warheads and from civil reprocessing plants, will have to be stored securely, and under international safeguards if possible. In the intermediate term, the principal alternatives for disposition of this plutonium are: irradiation in mixed‐oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies in commercial unmodified light‐water reactors or in specially adapted light‐water reactors capable of operating with full cores of MOX fuel or incorporation into a matrix with high‐level waste (HLW). Of these three options, blending plutonium into HLW as it is being glassified for final disposal is probably the least costly and the least burdensome to safeguards resources.