Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing: U.S. Policy Development

Abstract

As part of the World War II effort to develop the atomic bomb, reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel. In the early stage of commercial nuclear power, reprocessing was thought essential to supplying nuclear fuel. Federally sponsored breeder reactor development included research into advanced reprocessing technology. Several commercial interests in reprocessing foundered due to economic, technical, and regulatory issues. President Carter terminated federal support for reprocessing in an attempt to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons material. Reprocessing for nuclear weapons production ceased shortly after the Cold War ended. The Department of Energy now proposes a new generation of "proliferation-resistant" reactor and reprocessing technology.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 29, 2006
Accession Number
ADA458841

Entities

People

  • Anthony Andrews

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Breeder Reactors
  • Federal Budgets
  • Fissile Materials
  • Fission
  • Fissionable Materials
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Nuclear Fuels
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • United States

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Petroleum Engineering