Amid the many benefits that America’s 104 nuclear power plants provide, increased energy security is rarely mentioned. It is perhaps obscured by the fact that nuclear energy is by far the nation’s largest source of low-carbon electricity. People often talk about the reliability of U.S. nuclear power plants with average capacity factor above 90 percent. And nuclear power produces low-cost electricity – building a new plant is a significant investment, but the cost of electricity from this plant over its 60-year lifespan is predictable and affordable.

But what often gets lost in the shuffle is how our investment in nuclear power makes our energy supply more secure. Nuclear plant fuel comes mostly from uranium, which is plentiful. Utilities sign long-term contracts for uranium supply. Most of the mined uranium in American reactors comes from Canada, perhaps our nation’s closest ally and trading partner. (However, it should be noted that about 50% of U.S. nuclear fuel comes from converted Soviet weapons material, but that is another story.)

Fuel costs are only a small portion of the cost of nuclear generation, whereas it is the largest portion of the cost of generating electricity from fossil fuel-fired power plants. With natural gas plants, fuel represents about 70% of generating costs. When the cost of natural gas fluctuates (as it often does) the cost of generation fluctuates too. Adding nuclear energy to the mix adds diversity in supply and provides a hedge against these fluctuations in prices.

Energy security has been a major factor in the decision for most countries that have developed a significant nuclear sector. It was the oil crisis of the early 1970s that caused France to commit to nuclear energy in a big way. Today nearly 80% of France’s electricity comes from nuclear power, and it has the lowest electricity prices in Europe and among the lowest emissions per capita.

Recycling nuclear fuel offers additional benefits in terms of energy security. When you recycle used fuel, you reduce the need for fresh uranium by 25% and create a domestic energy source consisting of recycled uranium and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. The recycled fuel can be used again in standard nuclear plants. If the United States were to recycle the used fuel now stored at plant sites, it would power our 104 reactors for more than six years.

Today America’s nuclear plants produce about 20% of our electricity and also promote our energy security. However, we will need to invest in new plants to replace the reactors nearing the end of their operational lives. It is estimated we will need to build dozens of new plants over the next decades to maintain nuclear energy’s contribution.

In closing, here is a very interesting op-ed by Steve Kidd, deputy director of the World Nuclear Association, in Nuclear Engineering International that discusses how nuclear power supports a nation’s energy security.

As a similar account by Reuters noted, Besnainou said he is hopeful that AREVA can begin planning development of a recycling facility as early as 2015. The article added that:

Besnainou said a recycling center would be preferable to developing interim storage sites, such as those being considered by the Obama administration’s Blue Ribbon commission on nuclear waste.

“When you do a recycling center, you’re being part of the solution. You’re taking care of the fuel, you’re making the fuel less dangerous,” Besnainou said. “Interim storage is kicking the can down the road.”

Draft recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, formed to address America’s nuclear waste management strategy, have called for one or more interim storage facilities where used fuel could be stored safely for decades. While AREVA supports the commission’s draft recommendations in general, Besnainou noted that developing recycling as part of a comprehensive approach represents a better long-term solution.

He added that AREVA also is very supportive of the panel’s recommendation to create a Federal Corporation (Fed Corp), similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority, to implement America’s used nuclear fuel strategy.

Besnainou concluded that building a recycling facility would enable the United States to safely delay the opening of a permanent repository for at least 50 years. The administration decided to stop funding the Yucca Mountain repository project in 2009. A Bloomberg article noted that AREVA already recycles used fuel for customers in Europe. It added:

The U.S. [recycling] facility, which may be operating by 2025, would create thousands of jobs in the community where it is built, Besnainou said.

Host communities would be more supportive of an interim storage facility if it were accompanied by a “pilot” recycling plant, Besnainou said. As reported in a Dow Jones article, he added that “communities would compete to host a recycling operation because it would mean more jobs and investment than a fuel storage facility.”

AREVA last month issued a comprehensive white paper detailing the company’s vision for developing recycling in the United States and the benefits of this technology.

As an experienced, successful provider of used nuclear fuel recycling, we issued a white paper today detailing our perspective, as summed up in this statement by David Jones, senior vice president of AREVA Inc.:

“Recycling is a proven solution that conserves natural resources, simplifies waste management and is cost competitive. We must think beyond just temporary storage and permanent disposal – recycling is an essential part of building a more sustainable fuel cycle.”

Outlined in the document is a suggested U.S. used fuel recycling program that includes:

• Implementation of an enhanced COEX™ (Coextraction) process where no pure plutonium is separated anywhere in the facility.
• Co-location of treatment and fuel fabrication plants to avoid transportation of intermediate nuclear material outside of the facilities.
• Overall enhanced protection systems and design approaches.
• Flexibility in design to allow deployment of advanced separations processes, when such processes are developed and commercially industrialized, supporting fully closing the fuel cycle.

As our white paper concludes:

“It is crucial that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission continue developing a regulatory framework for deploying commercial recycling facilities. Congress and the Administration must likewise chart a strategic course for sustainable fuel cycle management. This national policy commitment must recognize used nuclear fuel as a resource, not a waste, and facilitate the consolidation and recycling of this resource, continue R&D, and develop a national repository. Executing this policy requires an entity, such as a Federal Corporation (FedCorp), that it is broadly chartered, appropriately capitalized, insulated from political volatility, and capable of sustaining long-term projects.”

Read the full document (PDF link) and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The original event held in Washington, D.C., last March was meant to illustrate to those unable to visit Normandy in person AREVA’s experience with recycling nuclear fuel. As readers of this space already know, AREVA has decades of experience safely and effectively recycling used fuel for customers around the globe. And development of recycling technology in the United States remains a solid option that could enable us to make better use of natural resourses and make waste management simpler.

Click here to view to view the virtual tour.

Speaking before the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future on Friday January 7, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) expressed their support for recycling nuclear fuel and said that developing this capability at the Savannah River Site would create jobs and spur regional investment.

According to the Columbia, S.C. State newspaper, Graham said that Savannah River should take the lead in developing recycling technology in the United States.

“I’m very willing for the Savannah River Site to be the research and the development facility for the nation to make that idea a reality,’’ Graham, R-S.C., told the Blue Ribbon Panel on America’s Nuclear Future, which held the hearing. “The goal of reprocessing and recycling is to reduce your storage footprint, right?”

A spokesperson for Sen. DeMint said in a statement: “I would urge the commission to fully explore the possibilities available in dealing with this waste, including nuclear recycling.”

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future was formed “to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and to provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the Nation’s used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.”

Friday’s meeting accompanied a visit by members of the Blue Ribbon Commission to the Savannah River Site. In August, AREVA laid out its vision for the panel for developing recycling technology in the United States.

“AREVA supports an integrated approach that ensures options including recycling, interim storage, and disposal. Commercial recycling of used nuclear fuel has a long, successful, safe and secure history. AREVA has successfully and profitably operated and supported commercial recycling facilities for more than four decades,” Executive V.P. Dr. Alan Hanson told the members of the panel.

Recycling offers a number of advantages compared with the once-through technology now used in the United States. It conserves natural resources – by recycling the material at our plant sites we could power America’s reactors for about six years. It makes the long-term management easier by reducing the amount of waste that must go to a permanent repository. Additionally, it reduces other concerns, because the final waste product contains no fissionable material and is more resistant to the environment.

Read more here.

“the mixed oxide fuel facility’s ability to protect nuclear materials from theft; the adequacy of environmental studies; and safety features to prevent any criticality within the plant’s many processes.


Dozens of accident scenarios were evaluated, according to the report, from which portions were edited for security or proprietary technology reasons. Those analyses included fires, leaks, explosions, acid spills, tornadoes and earthquakes. Radiation hazards from explosions were calculated out more than six miles to the Savannah River Site boundaries.

This is just one milestone for the nuclear facility construction project that has been making major progress in South Carolina. As part of the Shaw AREVA MOX Services team commissioned to construct the facility, AREVA has been dedicated to the successful construction of this facility which will be an achievement for both technology and non-proliferation goals.

For more information on the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility, and to see the construction progress, be sure to check out an episode of MOXtv here.

The NRC documents can be found here by searching for accession number ML103430615. More information about the MOX review is available here.

The main problem is not a matter of onsite storage—NRC has affirmed that used fuel can be stored safely and securely onsite for many years. Nor is it a problem of the concept of a geological repository: The United States will need a repository regardless of its used-fuel strategy. In fact, most of the material awaiting disposal is not waste per se: Only 4 percent of used nuclear fuel is waste material; the remaining 96 percent can be recycled and reused. Recycling allows for reuse of this energy-rich material, conserves natural resources, and makes waste management easier. For a true nuclear renaissance to take place in the United States, used nuclear fuel recycling offers a more sustainable approach to waste management.

Indeed, the economics of recycling are comparable to the once-through approach. Many countries are recycling used fuel safely, efficiently, and with minimal environmental impact.

Areva, for example, has several customers in Europe and Japan using recycled mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. Perhaps most important, the development of U.S. recycling capacity would reduce proliferation concerns by consuming fissionable plutonium and allow for a used-fuel recycling service to be offered to emerging nuclear countries.

Read the rest here on EEI’s site.

As the world become comparatively smaller with more people and fewer natural resources, the topic of energy security is more and more prominent. Providing energy from domestic and sustainable sources, such as nuclear energy and renewables, is a solution that should get more attention.

It is commonly recognized that renewables—like wind, solar, and biomass—derive their power from natural sources that are continuously available and a relatively certain resource.

As a source of energy that produces no emissions during generation, nuclear energy also has the ability to provide a critical domestic energy for the United States. Beyond this reliability for domestic production, the nuclear fuel recycling also supports the resource availability and security.

Recycling contributes to energy security because 96% of the content of the used fuel is reusable energy. AREVA’s recycling technology enables the recovery of valuable energy resources, providing for greater domestic energy security. In fact, if recycled, the 60,000 metric tons of U.S. commercial used nuclear fuel represents the energy equivalent of eight years of nuclear fuel supply for today’s entire U.S. nuclear reactor fleet. Further, the availability of recycled fuel provides a tool for the nuclear energy sector to protect against potential rises in uranium prices by providing recycled fuel whose production cost is independent of uranium prices.

This sentiment for long term viability was echoed at the recent Asian Nuclear Prospects 2010 Conference. The majority conclusion from the global panel of experts was that recycling used nuclear fuel “is vital for the sustainable growth of nuclear power.” Atomic Energy Commission member member M.R. Srinivasan said: ‘There is some sort of convergence of ideas on the closed fuel cycle amongst Asian countries, Russia, France and others. Asia and Europe can work on a common platform as there is no time available to look for new uranium sources.’

I had the opportunity recently to visit AREVA’s French facilities with members of AREVA’s grassroots outreach organization, the Community Advisory Council. The Council was established to provide nuclear educational opportunities to members of the African-American, Latino-American, Asian-American and Native-American communities. We visited La Hague, Flamanville-3, Georges Bess II, MELOX, Creusot Forge, and Chalon St. Marcel in a week. Needless to say, it was a whirlwind trip!

The Council members who participated are very open to discussion of the nuclear fuel cycle and how AREVA’s technology could help the U.S. return to nuclear power, paving the way for cleaner energy. The presentations focusing on the recycling of nuclear fuel seemed particularly of interest. When they realized that AREVA has been recycling fuel for more than 40 years, reducing proliferation threats and has little waste for long term storage, while in the U.S., the used fuel is not available for recycling and that it’s now stored around the country at commercial nuclear facilities, it was an eye opener. It was difficult for them to understand why the U.S. isn’t pursuing a recycling option.

By educating leaders of grassroots organizations, they in turn can pass that education along to members of their organizations. The cascade continues as the members pass along knowledge to their business associates, colleagues, families, and friends. This is one way to provide information to the public about options for the safe reuse of used nuclear fuel.

The more our citizens know, the better chance we have to push forward on doing in the U.S. what has been done in France safely and effectively for more than 4 decades.