Long-lived radioactive waste transmutation and the role of accelerator driven (hybrid) systems

Partitioning and transmutation strategies are studied in several countries within the framework of R&D programs devoted to the management of high-level radioactive wastes. One option is to use accelerator-driven reactors in order to transmute Pu and minor actinides and/or long-lived fission products. Conceptual studies underway in France and Japan are illustrated in the present paper. Some basic ideas of a reactor park capable of stabilizing production and consumption of Pu and minor actinides, which could reduce significantly the potential source of radiotoxicity in a geological repository, are worked out.