. > s . home mm bet Bee wat te ae eB be be mee kee eee of support activities required both to provide raw fuel and to recover and recycle the uranium and plutonium make up wnat is known as the nuclear fuel cycle. The AEC has projected that over 4 million megawatts of nuclear capacity will be installed between 1970 and 2020. Over the lifetimes of these plants this installed capacity could result ina cumulative flow of approximately 200 million kilograms of plutonium throush the nuclear fuel cycle. In today's commercial reactors the plutonium is in oxide forn, Pud,”. aerosols oF basis. Put. 2 are released to the environment on In addition, there are numerous doints in 6 * iw Ie ct he. rh oO fu evele, - At various facilities in the nuclear fuel tne fuel cycle where accidents, particularly those associated with fire or explosions, can release significant amounts of Pu0>s as aerosols that can be inhaled by man. 0 These smaii aerosol particles of PuQ9 are highly radcioactive. An appreciable fraction of the inhaled Puds particles are trazned in the deep respiratory tissue of the lung, ,.wnere, because they are insoluble in human tissue, af Usdates Peactor (1373) Proaran, Cost-Benefit Analysis of the U. VSAiC, WASH-1184, January 1372, p. S. Breeder 34. million mecavatts (Mw) corresponds to 1000 noninal-size nuclear reactors -- 1000 Mw each. Four eactors of the future may use fuel in , rather than oxide, form. \ = as sot eeerpp ee . wee soos es . . rowenta, tages we at veer