Plutonium Recycling and the Problem of Nuclear Proliferation

A typical 1 gigawatt LWR, the dominant commercial power reactor type today, operating at 70 per cent capacity factor, generates approximately 250kg of plutonium annually. This plutonium, which is produced in the reactor through neutron capture by U-238, is then discharged from the reactor along with the other constituents of the spent fuel. About 0.7 per cent of the plutonium, or 175kg, is fissile (odd) isotopes of plutonium. As long as the plutonium discharged from the reactor is left intermixed with the highly radioactive fission products also contained in the spent fuel, it cannot readily be used for power or for weapons. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.