Chemical Dissolution of Simulant FCA Cladding and Plates

Technical Report · Wed Nov 08 04:00:00 EST 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1414388· OSTI ID:1414388

Daniel, G. ^[1]; Pierce, R. ^[1]; O'Rourke, P. ^[1]

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1. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

The Savannah River Site (SRS) has received some fast critical assembly (FCA) fuel from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) for disposition. Among the JAEA FCA fuel are approximately 7090 rectangular Stainless Steel clad fuel elements. Each element has an internal Pu-10.6Al alloy metal wafer. The thickness of each element is either 1/16 inch or 1/32 inch. The dimensions of each element ranges from 2 inches x 1 inch to 2 inches x 4 inches. This report discusses the potential chemical dissolution of the FCA clad material or stainless steel. This technology uses nitric acid-potassium fluoride (HNO₃-KF) flowsheets of H-Canyon to dissolve the FCA elements from a rack of materials. Historically, dissolution flowsheets have aimed to maximize Pu dissolution rates while minimizing stainless steel dissolution (corrosion) rates. Because the FCA cladding is made of stainless steel, this work sought to accelerate stainless steel dissolution.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-08SR22470
• OSTI ID: 1414388
• Report Number(s): SRNL--STI-2017-00699
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CLADDING
FUEL PLATES
FUELS
STAINLESS STEELS