6. Conclusion

The systematic recycling of uranium and plutonium in 4th generation fast breeder reactors, following on from the current MOX recycling in French water reactors, enables :

• to use and recover all existing plutonium (a use that is currently made difficult, if not impossible, by the degradation of the isotopic composition of plutonium as it is recycled in thermal neutron reactors, making it unsuitable for recurrent recycling);

• to pursue, over the long term, the closed-cycle strategy enabling the production of final waste containing virtually no plutonium. Indeed, this radioelement is the one that would place the greatest constraints on deep geological disposal, particularly beyond the first 500 years;

• the possibility of drastically increasing (by a factor of around 100) the utilization...