Traces of the minor actinides are present in spent reactor fuel.
Breeding fuel cycles became interesting again because they can reduce actinide wastes, particularly plutonium and minor actinides.
Breeding fuel cycles attracted renewed interest because of their potential to reduce actinide wastes, particularly plutonium and minor actinides.
This energy release profile holds true for thorium and the various minor actinides as well.
If the goal is to reduce the longevity of spent nuclear fuel in burner reactors, then better recovery rates of the minor actinides need to be achieved.
In a fast neutron reactor, the minor actinides produced by neutron capture of uranium and plutonium can be used as fuel.
After separation the minor actinides and some long lived fission products can be converted to short-lived isotopes by either neutron or photon irradiation.
It has been proposed that in addition to the use of plutonium, the minor actinides could be used in a critical power reactor.
It has almost all of the fission products, corrosion products such as iron/nickel, traces of uranium, plutonium and the minor actinides.
The minor actinides are the actinide elements in used nuclear fuel other than uranium and plutonium, which are termed the major actinides.