My understanding is that the relevant isotope in uranium (ie that is actually used) is less than 1%, and some reactors like fast breeders can get that up to 60% ( 60 times more efficient than a normal reactor , but they aren't economically competitive with other reactors, even those that only use less than 1% of the uranium. Moreover fast reactors appear to already use the ADS system.Chinese scientists have made a technological breakthrough in the country's nuclear energy program. The new accelerator-driven system (ADS) is able to raise the utilization rate of uranium to 95 percent, a great leap forward from less than 1 percent using the current technology, paving way for a safer, greener nuclear future, said the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at a press conference on June 8.
So going from 1% to 95% may not necessarily be that impressive if its a reactor which can already do 60% of uranium.
Original article here
http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0609/c202936-9226452.html (unfortunately the translated articles in English don't appear to be as detail as the ones in Chinese given the difference in length between them, and this English one gives a bare minimum of information)
So hopefully someone who understands nuclear physics better can explain it better, because as a nuclear fanboy this type of news interest me.
