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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Fission Product Hydrochlorination

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1855670· OSTI ID:1855670

This work supports the recovery of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU, uranium enriched in 235U to >5% and <20%) from used nuclear fuel through a process based on the zirconium extraction (ZIRCEX) process. The ZIRCEX process starts with the dry head-end removal of zirconium or aluminum cladding from the nuclear fuel via chlorination or hydrochlorination, which results in the separation of cladding from the fuel as the metal chloride (e.g., aluminum trichloride or zirconium tetrachloride). The hydrochlorination process is included in the Material Recovery Pilot Plant (MRPP), a ZIRCEX-based demonstration plant at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The experiments outlined in this report assessed fission product (FP) volatility and transport under the hydrochlorination conditions used to separate cladding from used nuclear fuel.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1855670
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-2021/2312
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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