Advanced Waste Management Strategies for Technetium and Iodine in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

能源安全、可持续性和可负担性这一新兴的能源三难困境预计将塑造本世纪的地缘政治和经济格局。为了解决这一难题，民用核能的全球扩张正在进行中，以可预测的成本提供可靠的低碳基本负荷电力来源。可持续和高效的核能发电需要回收核燃料，因为只有3%的材料用于普通反应堆设计。这只能通过开发新的材料和工艺来实现，以便能够对所产生的放射性废物进行有力、有效和安全的管理，这是公众接受民用核能和进行可靠成本分析的关键。要求处置在一个强大的废物形式，并从生物圈隔离，在一个深地质处置设施的ca。一百万年。从历史上看，由于其挥发性和水溶性，Tc和I放射性核素的管理已被证明是极其困难的，导致汉福德（美国）和塞拉菲尔德（英国）面临相当大的环境清理挑战。本项目将解决核燃料循环放射性废物中的锝和碘的管理，创新和开发新材料和工艺，以安全地控制这些放射性核素的地质时标。这一挑战是英国和韩国民用核电战略的共同需求，因此，研究将在一个综合和合作项目中进行，吸引来自英国和韩国的领先研究人员，每个人都带来专业知识，能力和技能。

An emerging energy trilemma of energy security, sustainability and affordability, is expected shape the geopolitical and economic landscape of the current century. To address this trilemma, a global expansion of civil nuclear power is underway, providing a reliable source of low carbon base-load electricity, supplied at predictable cost. Sustainable and efficient generation of nuclear energy requires the recycle of nuclear fuel, since only 3% of the material is utilised in common reactor designs. This can only be achieve by developing new materials and processes to enable robust, efficient and safe management of the arising radioactive wastes, which is key, to underpinning public acceptance and reliable cost analysis of civil nuclear power.Management of technetium and iodine is of particular concern in the recycle of nuclear fuel, since their long half life, high production rate, solubility and bio-accumulation, demands disposition in a robust wasteform, and isolation from the bio-sphere, in a deep geological disposal facility for a ca. 1 million years. Historically, management of Tc and I radionuclides has proven extremely difficult, due to their volatile nature and aqueous solubility, resulting in considerable environmental clean up challenges at Hanford (USA) and Sellafield (UK).This project will address the management of technetium and iodine in radioactive wastes from nuclear fuel cycles, innovating and developing new materials and processes to safely contain these radionuclides for geological timescales. This challenge is a common need in the civil nuclear power strategies of the UK and Republic of Korea and, therefore, the research will be developed in an integrated and collaborative project, engaging leading researchers from the UK and ROK, each bringing specialist knowledge, capability and skills.