Multinational planning of nuclear energy systems in Asia

Abstract

The rapid growth of nuclear power market in Asian regions will introduce a high demand for fuel cycle services; however, in line with nonproliferation goals, control of sensitive technologies needs to be institutionalized. Multinational approaches to nuclear fuel cycle have been suggested for this purpose, but only limited initiatives are visible in the front-end; there has been a gap relating to the back-end fuel cycle. This paper concludes that a tangible and practical approach should be initiated with focus on the management of spent nuclear fuels (SNFs) in Asia, because it can provide a common goal for cooperation. The most applicable technology to ensure nonproliferation would be partitioning and transmutation (P&T), which can eliminate the accumulation of high-level wastes with adequate proliferation resistance and economic viability via black-box measures. As a long-term project, this requires a stepwise plan for research and eventual industrial development.