Nuclear Waste Management Decision-Making Support with MCDA
Table 2
Challenges and opportunities associated with the open and the closed NFC and nuclear waste management options [7].
Aspect
Open NFC
Fully closed NFC
Uranium consumption
−20 tonnes U/TWh (i.e., 100 to 200 tonnes of uranium per year of reactor operation)
+Consumption reduced by a factor of 50 to 100
Complexity of the techniques
+Few technically relatively simple management and handling steps
−Complexity increased by use of reprocessing and fast neutron reactor system
Maturity of the techniques, developments required
+Long experience with interim storage −Encapsulation and disposal in the design and licensing phase
−Limited experience with operation of fast neutron reactors, new reactors in design phase −Developments for the SNF partitioning and transmutation techniques
Waste disposal
−Large repository footprint (due to waste volume and heat release) −Very long timescale to reach radiotoxicity of natural uranium (200,000 years)
+Reduction for the footprint by a factor of 1/3 (due to reduced volume and heat release for high level waste) +If partitioning and transmutation is applied: significant reduction of the timescale to reach radiotoxicity of natural uranium (theoretically less than 1000 years)