A new generation of aqueous nuclear fuel reprocessing, now in development under the auspices of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), separates fuel into several fractions, thereby partitioning the wastes into groups of common chemistry. This technology advance enables development of waste management strategies that were not conceivable with PUREX reprocessing. Conventional wisdom suggests minimizing high level waste (HLW) volume is desirable, but logical extrapolation of this concept suggests that at some point the cost of reducing volume further will reach a point of diminishing return and may cease to be cost-effective. This report summarizes an evaluation considering groupings of wastes in terms of cost-benefit for the reprocessing system that concludes it is very difficult to justify the costs of HLW treatment facilities for additional specialized waste forms by reducing HLW disposal costs.Internationally, the typical waste form for HLW from the PUREX process is borosilicate glass containing waste elements as oxides. Unfortunately several fission products (primarily the noble metals Ru, Rh, Pd) have limited solubility in glass, yielding relatively low waste loading, producing more glass, and greater disposal costs. Advanced separations allow matching the waste form to waste stream chemistry, enabling the disposal system to achieve more optimum waste loading with improved performance. Metals can be segregated from oxides and each can be stabilized in forms to minimize the HLW volume for repository disposal. Thus, a more efficient waste management system making the most effective use of advanced waste forms and disposal design for each waste is enabled by advanced separations and how the waste streams are combined. This trade-study was designed to juxtapose a combined waste form baseline waste treatment scheme with two options and to evaluate the cost-benefit using available data from the conceptual design studies supported by DOE-NE. The three strategies included: The alloy case, combining all of the metals including undissolved solids (UDS), technetium (Tc), and transition metal fission products (TMFP) in a metallic alloy and the oxides of the alkali/alkaline earth elements primarily cesium, strontium (Cs/Sr), and lanthanides (Ln) in glass minimizes HLW volume. Implementing a waste management strategy using these state-of-the-art combined waste forms and storage to allow radioactive decay and heat dissipation prior to placement in a repository, makes it possible to place up to 10x the HLW equivalent of SNF in the same repository space.All waste management strategies considered with reprocessing significantly reduced HLW costs versus direct disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). However, using generic costs based on preliminary studies for typical waste stabilization facilities and separations modules, this analysis shows that a fourth strategy, resulting in only one waste form with all wastes in glass is the most cost-effective. Sensitivity studies considering weight and heat limits, separations additives, ...

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract