The development status of PUREX process for nuclear fuel reprocessing from an insight from PATENTS

The PUREX process has been one of the most successful methods to reprocess spent nuclear fuel for several decades, and further enhancements have being carried out in the worldwide. The published global patents about the PUREX technology are investigated in this work. The technology forecasting and the development strategy of PUREX process was provided from the view of patents, based on the nations, the technology field, the trend in the number of patent applications. The purpose of this work is to help the technical personnel in this field to understand the advanced development of PUREX technology from a new perspective.