Editing Nuclear reprocessing (section)

=====UREX=====
The PUREX process can be modified to make a '''UREX''' ('''UR'''anium '''EX'''traction) process which could be used to save space inside high level [[nuclear waste]] disposal sites, such as the [[Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository]], by removing the uranium which makes up the vast majority of the mass and volume of used fuel and recycling it as [[reprocessed uranium]].

The UREX process is a PUREX process which has been modified to prevent the plutonium from being extracted. This can be done by adding a plutonium [[reductant]] before the first metal extraction step. In the UREX process, ~99.9% of the uranium and >95% of [[technetium]] are separated from each other and the other fission products and [[actinide]]s. The key is the addition of [[acetohydroxamic acid]] (AHA) to the extraction and scrub sections of the process. The addition of AHA greatly diminishes the extractability of plutonium and [[neptunium]], providing somewhat greater proliferation resistance than with the plutonium extraction stage of the PUREX process.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}