Environmental readiness document advanced isotope separation program
Advanced Isotope Separation (AIS) techniques hold the promise of significantly reducing the cost of enriching uranium for use in commercial nuclear power reactors. By reducing uranium enrichment costs, the tails assay of an enrichment plant can be lowered resulting in a decrease in the requirements for natural uranium feed material and a small decrease in the cost of the electricity produced by nuclear power plants. With this increased efficiency of uranium enrichment, there will be an overall reduction in the environmental impacts associated with uranium processing in the front end of the fuel cycle. AIS is characterized by much lower energy requirements compared to diffusion; comparable energy requirements to centrifuge; generally similar offsite environmental and socioeconomic impacts to centrifuge; and substantially fewer secondary impacts than diffusion because of reduced need for power. In the broadest definitions of environmental concerns, the socio-political and security aspects of proliferation and safeguards are the most significant in reducing AIS to practice. The potential exists for exposure of plant workers or offsite personnel to radioactive material or process chemical during normal or accident conditions. Some AIS processes make use of strong magnetic or electromagnetic fields and lasers, and methods are required to monitor the levels of these radiations. The AIS processes will routinely generate chemical and radioactive wastes. Additional wastes may be generated during plant decontamination and decommissioning. All of these wastes must be managed to meet Federal and state requirements. Finally, based on preliminary designs, some of the AIS processes may require significant, relative to US and world supply, quantities of a coating material.
- Research Organization:
- Teknekron, Inc., McLean, VA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC01-79EV10292
- OSTI ID:
- 6327226
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/EP-0029; ON: DE81029952; TRN: 81-015859
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ENRICHED URANIUM
PRODUCTION
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ISOTOPE SEPARATION PLANTS
URANIUM 235
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
ELECTROMAGNETIC ISOTOPE SEPARATION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
GAS CENTRIFUGATION
GASEOUS DIFFUSION
LASER ISOTOPE SEPARATION
LASERS
PLASMA
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SAFEGUARDS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CENTRIFUGATION
DIFFUSION
EFFICIENCY
ELEMENTS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HEAVY NUCLEI
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
URANIUM
URANIUM ISOTOPES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
050500* - Nuclear Fuels- Uranium Enrichment
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects