Proliferation Resistance and Safeguardability of Different Fuel Cycles

Nuclear energy is a green source of electricity which can meet the growing demands for the global requirement of power. The nuclear fuel cycles are based on uranium, plutonium and thorium based fuels and can be classified as once through nuclear fuel cycle or the closed fuel cycle. One of the concerns of using nuclear energy is the risk of proliferation for acts of nuclear and radiological terrorism. There are predominantly two type of nuclear fuel cycles, viz. once through fuel cycle and closed fuel cycle. These fuel cycles are based on the type of fuels and have their own advantages and limitations with respect to proliferation risk. The current paper describes the two fuel cycles based on the different type of fuels and discusses the safeguardability concerns for such fuel cycles.