Fuel Fabrication Facility Study for FCF HALEU
Nuclear energy technology developers seek to bring to market new advanced reactor designs and new light water reactor fuel designs, many of which would deploy fuel made from uranium with 235U enrichment ranging from 5% to 19.75%. There is currently no commercial supply of uranium in this enrichment range, which is higher than used in today’s light water reactors but still lower than the safeguards limit of 20% 235U. This limitation is a barrier to development of demonstration of these new nuclear energy technologies. As a means to address this near-term need, DOE and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has considered how the HALEU product from sodium-bonded spent fuel treatment in the INL Fuel Conditioning Facility (FCF), located at the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC), might be provided and fabricated into some of the new fuel designs. The evaluation presented in this report addresses the potential establishment of two types of fuel fabrication capability at INL, represented generically as a ceramic-type (or pellet-type) fuel fabrication line and a metallic fuel fabrication line. Because the FCF HALEU feedstock contains residual transuranic contamination and a relatively small amount of residual fission products, fabrication with that material is necessarily performed inside of engineered confinement barriers, such as gloveboxes, which would be filled with inert gas for most of the fuel types considered. The throughput rate of the fabrication lines envisioned is 2.5 metric tons of HALEU fuel per year, which is judged to be sufficiently representative of engineering-scale. Space in three existing buildings was identified for consideration in this study of pre-conceptual equipment layouts. The scope and nature of the work needed to prepare each of the three buildings for each type of fuel fabrication was identified (though not in engineering detail), and three-dimensional models of envisioned fabrication equipment were laid out in each of the buildings to assess adequacy of space. The study concluded that either type of fuel fabrication line can feasibly be installed and operated in either of the three buildings. However, each of the three buildings presents different challenges in preparation, due to accommodating current missions that would need to be relocated or necessary decontamination and decommissioning work to free-up space for fuel fabrication, or due to complications of accessibility. Rough order-of-magnitude (ROM) cost estimates for preparing buildings begin at $10M ( 20%/+50%) and would increase with increased complexity of building modifications. The cost of fabrication equipment and gloveboxes is roughly estimated to be $21M (-20%/+50%) for a metallic fuel fabrication line and $27M (-20%/+50%) for a ceramic/intermetallic fuel fabrication line. Nominal operating costs are estimated to be $7M per year (in 2019 dollars), increasing from lower amounts needed as the operating crew is being assembled and trained.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1504421
- Report Number(s):
- INL/EXT-19-52614-Rev000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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