A report from the media on the previous day made a big impression: “Chinese scientists have achieved recycling of uranium and plutonium materials from nuclear power reactors, which means that China’s proven uranium resources can only be used for about 50 to 70 years. It will be enough for 3000 years.” Does this mean that the Chinese are about to bid farewell to the energy crisis?

At the end of last month, this reporter happened to be participating in an academic conference to discuss "reprocessing of nuclear fuel." He listened to experts discussing the progress in this field, but no one mentioned the breakthrough in this post-processing technology reported by the media. If the achievement is significant enough to produce the benefits of 3000 years of nuclear energy reserves, why are experts "inappropriate"? The reporter interviewed the academician of Chai Zhifang of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences today and is the executive chairman of the last academic conference. He recommended to reporters the relevant nuclear fuel knowledge. “The newly successful post-processing experiment is a gratifying step, but the report has some exaggeration.” Chai Zhifang pointed out that if combined with fast reactor technology, post-processing technology can increase nuclear fuel to "enough for 3000 years." However, these two technologies are not mature at present. It is only a key technology in the post-processing process that the CNNC successfully experimented.

The so-called post-processing refers to the extraction and reuse of plutonium and uranium in nuclear fuel rods with “poor firepower”. The fast reactor technology converts uranium-238, which has huge reserves but cannot be used in nuclear power plants, into nuclear fuel, thereby increasing the number of nuclear fuel by several dozen times. Chai Zhifang said that China built its first fast reactor last year, and it is still in an experimental stage. At present, fast reactors in various countries cannot be put into mature commercial operations. The nuclear fuel extracted by the post-processing technology can be used for both fast reactors and pressurized water reactors that are currently widely used. According to Chai Zhifang, the efficiency increase in the latter case is about 30%. If you leave the fast reactor, you will not be able to talk about "3000 years." Chai Zhifang said that CNNC's success in extracting uranium and plutonium is an important step for China to master the whole set of post-processing technologies. According to his understanding, there are still some difficulties at the moment, such as the separation of sub-family systems and helium and thorium elements. In addition, the scale of post-processing is far from ideal, requiring long-term experimental research. For the significance of R&D post-processing technology, Chai Zhifang gave a high evaluation. “The countries that currently have post-processing technologies have a high asking price for the transfer of technology.” Chai Zhifang said, “China’s own successful R&D will at least significantly reduce this price.”

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