1 Recycling Schemes of Americium Targets in Pwr / Mox Cores

From the orientation studies performed so far, both ways to recycle Am in PWR/MOX cores, homogeneous in MOX or heterogeneous in target pins, appear feasible, provided that enriched UO2 is used as support of the MOX fuel. Multiple recycling can then proceed and stabilise Pu and Am quantities. With respect to the Pu multiple recycling strategy, recycling Am in addition needs 1/3 more U, and creates 3 times more Curium. Thus, although feasible, such a fuel cycle is complicated and brings about a significant cost penalty, not quantified yet. The advantage of the heterogeneous option is to allow to manage in different ways the Pu in MOX fuel and the Am in target pins. For example, should Am remain combined to Cm after reprocessing, the recycling of a mix of Am+Cm could be deferred to let Cm transform into Pu before irradiation. The Am+Cm targets could also stay longer in the reactor, so as to avoid further reprocessing if possible.