As part of the Advanced Energy Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy has recently announced the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) that would recycle spent fuel to expand the capacity of geological repositories. Initiation of the supporting activities is underway. These include a scoping assessment and design of the fuel reprocessing and separation systems and the transmutation of actinides using fast reactors and accelerator-driven systems. Recently initiated at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), a scoping level design for a sub-critical transmutation blanket driven by Z-Pinch fusion has been proposed as an alternate option to the use of fast reactors for recycling spent fuel.

Numerous fusion-based designs have been developed over the past three decades based on other concepts. The initial assessment indicates the Z-Pinch could be an attractive option for burning tons of actinides (Pu, Np, Am, Cm) or minor actinides (Am, Cm) produced by fission fuel reprocessing plants. The In-Zinerator seems to offer advantages over fast reactors in terms of transmutation efficiency and support ratio. This application may shorten the fusion development path, offering a more near-term application while providing valuable experience in designing a net power producing power plant.