It recycles its own nuclear waste as fuel. The experimental fuel rods, placed in the IFR in February 1993, will help power the reactor for about a year. Then they will be removed to see how well the reactor burns americium and neptu- nium. These long-lived radioactive elements are considered atomic waste and must be isolated from the environment for thousands of years. If the IFR can burn them as fuel, a massive environmental problem can be converted into a vast energy resource.
Fuel rods power the nuclear reaction that produces the energy to generate electricity.
Conventional nuclear power plants use ceramic fuel and nor- mally only consume 3 or 4 percent of their fuel before it must be replaced. That fuel is stored as waste. The IFR's uranium, plutonium and zirconium metal fuel was designed to reach 15 percent burnup, and researchers are predicting it may reach 22 percent. Fuel testing continues to provide data for future licensing reviews. Efficient fuel performance means fuel can remain in the reactor longer thereby reducing the cost and environmental risks of fuel replacement.