Separations technologies supporting the development of a deployable ATW system

A program has been initiated for the purpose of developing the chemical separations technologies necessary to support a large Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) system capable of dealing with the projected inventory of spent fuel from the commercial nuclear power stations in the United States. The first several years of the program will be directed toward an elucidation of related technical issues and to the establishment, by means of comprehensive trade studies, of an optimum configuration of the elements of the chemical processing infrastructure required for support of the total ATW system. By adopting this sort of disciplined systems engineering approach, it is expected that development and demonstration costs can be minimized and that it will be possible to deploy an ATW system that is an environmentally sound and economically viable venture