– Edited By Chris Reed –
It will take at least a decade for China to start the large-scale industrial application of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing technology, which may be the solution to the uranium supply shortage, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on Monday.
Earlier this month, China announced with great fanfare on state television that it had become one of only a handful of countries to successfully reprocess fuel, thanks to the work of CNNC engineers.
The remarks at the company's annual briefing added to earlier news that China's latest spent fuel reprocessing technology will boost the usage rate of uranium sixty-fold, reports the China Daily. "The technological breakthrough is a crucial step toward initial practical application, which is likely to happen within a year," said Li Tao, a spokeswoman for CNNC.
The nation has more than 170,000 tons of known uranium resources.