Japan · Joint announcement: “Technology for efficiently recovering zirconium” from high level radioactive waste
~ Aim for Reduction of Long Lifetime Fission Products and Effective Utilization of Resources ~
Hitachi, Ltd.
Science and Technology Promotion Organization (JST)
Cabinet Office policy officer (responsible for science, technology and innovation)
Hitachi, Ltd. (President and CEO: Toshiaki Higashihara) has developed a technology to recover zirconium (Zr) useful as a resource from high-level radioactive waste with efficiency of 90% or more.
High level radioactive waste is generated when reprocessing spent nuclear fuel of nuclear power plant
This research was carried out as part of “ImPACT” led by the Cabinet Office’s General Science and Technology · Innovation Conference.
the Innovative Research and Development Promotion Program: ImPACT – Significant Reduction of High Level Radioactive Waste by Transmutation – Recycling
In this program, the development of a method to reduce radioactivity by transforming long-lived fission products (LLFP) into short-lived nuclides or stable nuclides is underway.
Combined with this technology, it is possible to reduce LLFP and to recover useful zirconium.