Spent Fuel Standard as a Baseline for Proliferation Resistance in Excess Plutonium Disposition Options

Abstract

The “Spent Fuel Standard (SFS)” is a criterion for disposition of excess U.S. and Russian weapons-grade plutonium, recovered from dismantled U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. This study analyzes the extent to which the “mixed oxide (MOX) option” and “immobilization option”, which were agreed to as the disposition options by the two countries, meets the SFS. The analysis confirms that the two options meet the SFS and are comparable to each other.

KEYWORDS:

• spent fuel standard
• excess plutonium disposition
• MOX option
• immobilization option
• weapons-grade plutonium
• reactor-grade plutonium
• russian federation
• USA