[DennisP]

Well ok that's true. On the other hand, removing fission products means you have a lot less decay heat to deal with upon reactor shutdown. Dump the fuel to a tank without moderators and walk away.

ThorCon has an interesting approach for dealing with plating and so on: their design has reactor cores that can be easily swapped out. When one's ready for maintenance they just cart it away, let it cool for several years, then deal with it.

http://thorconpower.com