There is one potential solution : reprocess the spent uranium fuel rods and dissolve the reprocessed uranium in molten sodium fluoride salts for use as a fuel for the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR). Unlike today’s uranium-fueled reactors, LFTR’s don’t need expensive pressurized reactor vessels, is real easy to do an emergency shutdown, and the nuclear waste product from these reactors have a half-life of 300 years, which means very cheap nuclear waste disposal—if the nuclear medicine industry doesn’t grab it first ! In short, all those spent fuel rods are a potential major source of fuel for an LFTR. Indeed, I encourage Prime Minister Abe to fund Japanese research into LFTR’s, which are perfect for Japan since LFTR’s can’t technically « melt down » after an earthquake like the reactors at Fukushima did and is a great way to dispose once of for all the spent uranium fuel rods now sitting around.
« ..Radiation resistance is an important parameter of filtering materials used in processing nuclear materials. Organic ion-exchange resins are limited in these applications because they are weakly resistant to ionizing radiation. Thermoxide sorbents, however, possess high radiation resistance and, therefore, can be used to decontaminate highly radioactive solutions.. »
Modern filtering materials are investigated in respect to their use for treating water from ponds of long-term storage at nuclear stations. The design of the small-sized cartridge filter with filtering element of an organic material and selective inorganic sorbent « THERMOXIDE-3А » is presented.