A Possible Next Step for Canada: Recycling Spent U.S. Nuclear Fuel

Abstract

The differences in the neutron economies between light water reactors (PWRs and BWRs) in the United States and Canadian CANDU reactors allows for the technical possibility of used fuel from the U.S. to be recycled through the DUPIC process. Once re-purposed, American fuel can be used in CANDU reactors to produce low GHG emission electricity, and the waste then becomes Canadian property. The use of the DUPIC cycle presents an opportunity for Canada to sell waste management services to the United States. Canada has a long-term plan for storing nuclear waste called Adaptive Phased Management, which will eventually see nuclear waste buried in a deep geologic repository in the Canadian Shield or overlying sediments. The lack of an equivalent U.S. plan is problematic for the U.S. but could potentially create a multi-billion-dollar industry for Canada.