An Assessment of the Impact of Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles on Geological Disposal

After a strong growth in the 1970s and 1980s, the deployment of nuclear energy has stagnated. Only a few nuclear power plants became operational during the last 20 years. More recently, rising oil prices, increasing energy demands and the need for carbon-free energy to limit global warming have resulted in a revival of interests in nuclear energy. New nuclear power plants are now under construction in, e.g., Finland, France, Japan, Korea, the Russian Federation, China and India. Especially in these last 2 countries a considerable increase of the contribution of nuclear energy to the electricity generation is expected (Nuclear Energy Agency [NEA], 2008). The nuclear renaissance made that advanced nuclear fuel cycles are being studied worldwide. They aim at making more efficient use of the available resources, reducing the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons, and facilitating the management of the radioactive waste. However, the Fukushima accident in 2011 strongly tempered the revival of nuclear energy in several countries.