nuclear-news

In the second part of his evidence to South Australia’s Nuclear Royal
Commission, Dr Lyman explains that   direct disposal is the safest and the most prudent approach for nuclear power.  In recycling, as in pyroreprocessing, the risks outweigh the benefits.

Dr Lyman has studied pyroreprocessing in great detail. The fact that its products are highly radioactive does not act to deter thieves, especially those aiming to use these products for weapons proliferation.

Also, “the IEA is still struggling to provide even technical approaches for how you would  get weapons grade accountancy in pyroprocessing, and that’s a great concern”……”Many minor actinides that would be in the pyroprocessing product are also weapons useable “… “It’s also easy, if that combination were to be stolen, to separate out plutonium from the minor actinides”.

Lyman describes the pyroreprocessing process as an “unmanageable enterprise”. The United States decided not to pursue re-processing and fast reactors in the…