Update on development of the IFR pyroprocess

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:5619338

Burris, L; Miller, W E; Gay, E C; Ackerman, J P; Tomczuk, Z; Herceg, J E; Kann, W J ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)

A pyrochemical process is under development for recovering and recycling fuel discharged from the integral fast reactor (IFR). In the past year, two major changes have been made in this process. First, the halide slagging step previously used for concentrating plutonium bred in the blanket has been eliminated, not because it did not work but because the same purpose can be achieved by electrorefining. The current flow sheet is shown. Now, all of the necessary separations are achieved by electrorefining alone. Second, to make the electrorefining operations sufficiently flexible to provide the necessary separations while accommodating a range of feed compositions, two types of cathodes are employed. One is used for selective removal of uranium for recycle as blanket material, and the other is used for removal of a uranium-plutonium product for recycle as core material. Computer codes based on thermodynamic models have been developed to predict the fate of product elements (uranium and plutonium) and fission products. These show that high recovery of uranium and plutonium and adequate removal of fission products are achievable.

• OSTI ID: 5619338
• Report Number(s): CONF-880601--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 56
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
ACTINIDES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DEPOSITION
DISSOLUTION
ELECTRODEPOSITION
ELECTROLYSIS
ELEMENTS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL ELEMENTS
ISOTOPES
LYSIS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
PLUTONIUM
PROCESSING
PYROCHEMICAL REPROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
REMOVAL
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SIMULATION
SLAGGING PYROLYSIS PROCESS
SURFACE COATING
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING