Editing Integral fast reactor (section)

==Advantages==
[[Breeder reactor]]s (such as the IFR) could in principle extract almost all of the energy contained in [[uranium]] or [[thorium]], decreasing fuel requirements by nearly two orders of magnitude compared to traditional once-through reactors, which extract less than 0.65% of the energy in mined uranium, and less than 5% of the enriched uranium with which they are fueled. This could greatly dampen concern about fuel supply or energy used in [[uranium mining|mining]]. 

What is more important today is ''why'' fast reactors are fuel-efficient: because fast neutrons can [[nuclear fission|fission]] or "burn out" all the [[transuranic waste]] components. Transuranic waste consists of [[actinides]] – [[reactor-grade plutonium]] and [[minor actinides]] – many of which last tens of thousands of years or longer and make conventional nuclear waste disposal so problematic. Most of the radioactive [[fission product]]s produced by an IFR have much shorter [[Half-life|half-lives]]: they are intensely radioactive in the short term but decay quickly. Through many cycles, the IFR ultimately causes 99.9% of the uranium and [[transuranium element]]s to undergo fission and produce power; so, its only waste is the [[nuclear fission product]]s. These have much shorter half-lives; in 300 years, their radioactivity will fall below that of the original uranium ore.<ref name="SV/g chart">[https://web.archive.org/web/20140519002715/http://www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se/Global/Publikationer/Tidskrift/Nucleus/2007/Nucleus-4-2007.pdf Nucleus-4-2007] pg 15 see SV/g chart, ''www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se''</ref><ref name=berkeley/>{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2012}}<ref name="https">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuunX3Oc4n4 |title=Roger Blomquist of ANL (Argonne National Lab) on IFR (Integral Fast Reactor) @ TEAC6 . Stated at ~ 13 minutes |website=[[YouTube]] |date=12 July 2014 }}</ref>{{better source|date=July 2014}} The fact that [[Generation IV reactor|4th generation reactor]]s are being designed to use the waste from [[Generation III reactor|3rd generation plant]]s could change the nuclear story fundamentally—potentially making the combination of 3rd and 4th generation plants a more attractive energy option than 3rd generation by itself would have been, both from the perspective of waste management and energy security.

"Integral" refers to on-site [[Nuclear reprocessing|reprocessing]] by electrochemical [[pyroprocessing]]. This process separates spent fuel into 3 fractions: uranium, plutonium [[isotope]]s and other [[transuranium element]]s, and nuclear fission products. The uranium and transuranium elements are recycled into new [[Nuclear fuel|fuel rods]], and the fission products are eventually converted to glass and metal blocks for safer disposal. Because the combined transuranium elements and the fission products are highly radioactive, fuel-rod transfer and reprocessing operations use robotic or remote-controlled equipment. An additional claimed benefit of this is that since fissile material never leaves the facility (and would be lethal to handle if it did), this greatly reduces the [[Nuclear proliferation|proliferation]] potential of possible diversion of fissile material.