Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for processing radioactive waste, comprising:a step of extracting a group of isotopes having a same atomic number from the radioactive waste, followed by no separation process of isotopes from the extracted group, the extracted group including a radionuclide and stable nuclides; anda step of generating a neutron (n) by an accelerator and irradiating the neutron (n) to the isotopes, so as to produce nuclear transmutation of a first nuclide as a long-lived radionuclide into a second nuclide as a stable nuclide, while suppressing nuclear transmutation of a third nuclide into the first nuclide by setting a value of irradiation energy of the neutron (n) within such a range that a (n, 2n) reaction cross section of the first nuclide is equal to or larger than 10 times as large as a (n, 2n) reaction cross section of the third nuclide,andwherein the isotopes, the first nuclide, the second nuclide, and the third nuclide are defined as below:selenium (Se) isotopes, Se-79, Se-78, and Se-80, respectively;palladium (Pd) isotopes, Pd-107, Pd-106, and Pd-108, respectively;zirconium (Zr) isotopes, Zr-93, Zr-92, and Zr-94, respectively;krypton (Kr) isotopes, Kr-85, Kr-84, and Kr-86, respectively; orsamarium (Sm) isotopes, Sm-151, Sm-150, and Sm-152, respectively. 2. The radioactive waste processing method according to claim 1, further comprising:after the extracting step and before the irradiating step, a step of increasing or decreasing a ratio of isotopes having an odd number of neutrons with respect to isotopes having an even number of neutrons in the extracted group of isotopes, by inducing an isotopic shift phenomenon in the extracted group of isotopes.