Engineering Scale Pyroprocessing Activities in the United States

Technical Report · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2529374· OSTI ID:2529374

Fredrickson, Guy L. ^[1]; Yoo, Tae-Sic ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Pyroprocessing is a broad term that includes all high-temperature, non-aqueous reprocessing technologies that lie outside the normal purview of aqueous reprocessing technologies such as the Uranium Extraction (UREX) Process, the Plutonium Uranium Reduction Extraction (PUREX) Process, and the many variants of these flowsheets. Pyroprocessing includes unit operations such as molten salt electrochemical cells for the conversion of oxides to metals, uranium electrorefining, and the recovery of transuranics. It also includes salt distillation and metal casting operations. The terms “Pyroprocessing” and “Electrometallurgical Processing” are synonymous in this context. Important distinctions between pyroprocessing and aqueous reprocessing have to do with the characteristics of the recovered actinide products. There are important caveats, but the following characteristics broadly apply: • Both pyroprocessing and aqueous reprocessing can accept metal and oxide spent fuels. • Aqueous reprocessing recovers oxide products. • Pyroprocessing recovers metal products. • Aqueous reprocessing has inherent advantages for the oxide-to-oxide fuel cycle. • Pyroprocessing has inherent advantages for the metal-to-metal fuel cycle. • Aqueous reprocessing produces a cleaner product. • Pyroprocessing generates a smaller volume of waste. The most significant examples of applied research on pyroprocessing flowsheet development in the United States (US) have occurred at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) which, prior to 2005, was the Argonne National Laboratory – West (ANL-W). This report will focus on these activities.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USNRC
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 2529374
• Report Number(s): INL/RPT--23-72884-Rev000; TLR-RES/DE/REB-2023-10
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
pyroprocessing