The nuclear fuel cycle: an appraisal

For all LWR fuel‐cycle options, safe and reliable management of nuclear waste and control of radioactive effluents can be accomplished with technologies that either exist or involve straightforward extension of existing capabilities. However, technical choices, including those for geologic waste disposal, require further delineation of regulatory policies. For normal operation of all fuel‐cycle options studied, potential radiation exposures from either wastes or effluents do not appear to limit deployment of nuclear power.

 On 25 April at the Washington meeting of The American Physical Society, the principal conclusions and recommendations of a year‐long study of nuclear fuel cycles and waste management were released. The study group consisted of a dozen physicists, chemists, engineers and geologists; it was chaired by L. Charles Hebel of the Xerox Corporation and reported through the APS Panel on Public Affairs and a review committee consisting of Hans Frauenfelder (chairman), Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky, Theodore L. Cairns and M. Gene Simmons. The study was financed by the National Science Foundation.