ECONOMICAL ASPECTS

It is too early to assess the overall cost effectiveness of ceramic waste encapsulation.

But a simple comparison of the required material for the encapsulation of 1 PWR spent fuel element gives some interesting numbers:

According to the Swedish concept with the KBS-3 canister about 1450 kg COPPER are necessary for 1 PWR spent fuel element in contrast to about 65 kg SSiC for the proposed IN-LINER in the German BSK3.

A rough estimation for the SSiC encapsulation of the commercial SF inventory existing worldwide gives a market potential of more than 500.000 tons of SSiC.