IFR and GE S-PRISM

[jsbiff]

Hi, I'm hoping to tap the collective knowledge of this forum for information about the IFR (Integral Fast Reactor), and the GE S-PRISM.

It is my understanding that the GE S-PRISM is a proposed commercial fast reactor design which was derived from the work done by the DoE on the IFR project in Idaho.

A year or two ago, I had done a bunch of searching and reading, trying to read as much information as I could find about the IFR, and from what I read, the one piece of the IFR project which was never fully researched and tested was the proposed electrorefining process, which would allow them to re-process partially used fuel from the reactor, to get more fuel which could be further fissioned insided the reactor, and to seperate out the true 'waste' which couldn't be used for further fission.

So, my question is, did anyone ever pick up the reprocessing research, and do the testing necessary to prove whether that process would work as planned? Is that refining system part of the GE S-PRISM design, or does the S-PRISM just encompass the reactor portion, without any of the reprocessing technology?

I've been having a hard time finding much information about S-PRISM - GE seems to not be doing anything with S-PRISM, in terms of advancing it and educating the public about it, as far as I can tell. I think GE has decided to focus on Wind Power for the moment, since that seems to be very 'popular' right now, and kind of sit on the S-PRISM idea.

[WizWom]

America finally closing its nuclear fuel cycle is a VERY desirable thing. The open fuel cycle is one reason for the astonishing amount of long lived radioactive waste.

Fast reactors liquid metal cooled reactors are a mature technology. Which is why GE can talk about assembly-line production of them - because they really aren't doing anything new in the core.