Transmutation of long-lived radioactive wastes from nuclear power

Conclusion The need to provide ecologically clean and safe nuclear power in the future requires intensive study of a wide range of technological problems today. The most important one is the reprocessing of radioactive nuclear plant wastes through atomic transformation. Whether there will be transmutation plants based on more or less traditional varieties of power reactors, or whether there will be hybrid systems using powerful accelerators, will be shown by further developments, and not just in the field of the physics and technology of reactors and accelerators. A thorough examination should be conducted at every stage of the fuel cycle, using data from radiochemistry, biology, economics, and possibly other disciplines. However, it is already clear that the complex problems of creating an ecologically clean and safe form of power production, in view of their worldwide scale, can be solved only by international efforts based on the close cooperation of specialists from various countries.