Nuclear Fuel Cycle Technologies for Long-term Stable Energy Supply

INTroduCTIoN THE G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit Leaders Declaration issued at the G8 summit held in Toyako in Hokkaido stated that: “ We witness that a growing number of countries have expressed their interests in nuclear power programs as a means to addressing climate change and energy security concerns. These countries regard nuclear power as an essential OVERVIEW: Although the safe operation of nuclear power generation is the most important consideration in using nuclear power as a reliable long-term source of electrical energy, uranium, like oil, is a finite resource and so fuel recycling is also essential. Naturally occurring uranium passes through mining, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication stages before it is used in nuclear reactions in existing LWRs to produce electrical energy. The intention for the spent fuel produced by this process is to place it partially in interim storage and to process it at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant. The plutonium recovered by fuel reprocessing is currently recycled in LWRs and in the future will be recycled in FBRs. Because an FBR can produce more plutonium than the uranium it consumes, it can act as a reliable source of energy for a thousand years or more. In addition to LWRs, Hitachi is also actively involved in the interim storage, fuel reprocessing, FBR, and radioactive waste management businesses as well as the development of associated technology.