Reprocessing is a series of chemical operations that separates plutonium and uranium from other nuclear waste contained in the used (or “spent”) fuel from nuclear 动力反应堆. 分离出来的钚可以用来为反应堆提供燃料，也可以用来制造核武器. 在70年代末, the United States decided on nuclear non-proliferation grounds not to reprocess spent fuel from U.S. 动力反应堆, but instead to directly dispose of it in a deep underground geologic repository where it would remain isolated from the environment for at least tens of thousands of years.
尽管一些支持美国加入北约的人.S. 再处理计划相信它将有助于解决核废料问题, 后处理不会减少储存和处置放射性废物的需要. 更糟糕的是, 再处理将使恐怖分子更容易获得核武器材料, 以及发展核武器项目的国家.
再处理将增加核恐怖主义的风险
制造一枚简单的核武器只需要不到20磅的钚. 如果钚仍然被大量封存, 重, 以及高放射性乏燃料组件(目前美国使用的是核反应堆).S. 实践)，偷窃几乎是不可能的. 与此形成鲜明对比的是, separated plutonium is not highly radioactive and is stored in a concentrated powder form. Some claim that new reprocessing technologies that would leave the plutonium blended with other elements, 比如镎, 会导致混合物的放射性太强，无法被窃取吗. This is incorrect; neither neptunium nor the other elements under consideration are radioactive enough to preclude theft. 这些其他元素中的大多数也可用于武器.
此外, commercial-scale reprocessing facilities handle so much of this material that it has proven impossible to keep track of it accurately in a timely manner, making it feasible that the theft of enough plutonium to build several bombs could go undetected for years.
A U.S. reprocessing program would add to the worldwide stockpile of separated and vulnerable civil plutonium that sits in storage today, 截至2009年底，这些垃圾的总量约为250吨——足够约30吨,000枚核武器. U的再处理.S. 迄今为止产生的乏燃料将使这一数字增加500多公吨.
再处理将增加核扩散的难度
U.S. 再处理将破坏美国的战略.S. goal of halting the spread of fuel cycle technologies that are permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but can be used to make nuclear weapons materials. The United States cannot credibly persuade other countries to forgo a technology it has newly embraced for its own use. Although some reprocessing advocates claim that new reprocessing technologies under development will be "proliferation resistant," they would actually be more difficult for international inspectors to safeguard because it would be harder to make precise measurements of the weapon-usable materials during and after processing. 此外, all reprocessing technologies are far more proliferation-prone than direct disposal.
再处理会损害美国的利益.S. 核废料管理517888九五至尊娱乐
First, there is no spent fuel storage crisis that warrants such a drastic change in course. Hardened interim storage of spent fuel in dry casks is an economically viable and secure option for at least fifty years.
第二个, 后处理并不能减少储存和处置放射性废物的需要, 而且地质储存库仍然是必需的. 钚只占美国核废料的1%左右.S. 反应堆. 后再加工, 剩余的材料将以几种不同的废物形式存在, and the total volume of nuclear waste will have been increased by a factor of twenty or more, 包括低放射性废物和钚污染的废物. 剩余材料中最大的成分是铀, which is also a waste product because it is contaminated and undesirable for reuse in 反应堆. 即使铀被归类为低放射性废物, 必须建造新的低放射性核废料处理设施来处理它. And to make a significant reduction in the amount of high-level nuclear waste that would require disposal, the used fuel would need to be reprocessed and reused many times with an extremely high degree of efficiency—an extremely difficult endeavor that would likely take centuries to accomplish.
最后，后处理将转移美国核项目的注意力和资源.S. 地质处置计划伤害了——而不是帮助了——美国.S. 核废料管理517888九五至尊娱乐. 再处理的许可要求, 燃料制造, 而废物处理厂将使那些需要获得许可的储存库相形见绌, 并为公众反对提供额外的目标. What is most needed today is a renewed focus on secure interim storage of spent fuel and on gaining the scientific and technical consensus needed to site a geological repository.
再处理将非常昂贵
Reprocessing and the use of plutonium as reactor fuel are also far more expensive than using uranium fuel and disposing of the spent fuel directly. 在美国, 约60,已经产生了000吨核废料, 现有的反应堆增加了2个,每年处理000公吨乏燃料. The 能源 Department recently released an industry estimate that a reprocessing plant with an annual capacity of 2,000公吨乏燃料的建造成本将高达200亿美元.S. 需要两个来重新处理所有的乏燃料吗. An Argonne National Laboratory scientist recently estimated that the cost premium for reprocessing spent fuel would range from 0.4 to 0.每千瓦时6美分，相当于额外的3到4美元.目前，美国每年需要50亿美元.S. 核反应堆机组. 美国公众最终将不得不支付这笔费用, 要么通过增加税收，要么通过提高电费.
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