Actinide burning in the integral fast reactor

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5862571

Chang, Y I ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

During the past few years, Argonne National Laboratory has been developing the integral fast reactor (IFR), an advanced liquid-metal reactor concept. In the IFR, the inherent properties of liquid-metal cooling are combined with a new metallic fuel and a radically different refining process to allow breakthroughs in passive safety, fuel cycle economics, and waste management. A key feature of the IFR concept is its unique pyroprocessing. Pyroprocessing has the potential to radically improve long-term waste management strategies by exploiting the following attributes: 1. Minor actinides accompany plutonium product stream; therefore, actinide recycling occurs naturally. Actinides, the primary source of long-term radiological toxicity, are removed from the waste stream and returned to the reactor for in situ burning, generating useful energy. 2. High-level waste volume from pyroprocessing call be reduced substantially as compared with direct disposal of spent fuel. 3. Decay heat loading in the repository can be reduced by a large factor, especially for the long-term burden. 4. Low-level waste generation is minimal. 5. Troublesome fission products, such as [sup 99]Tc, [sup 129]I, and [sup 14]C, are contained and immobilized. Singly or in combination, the foregoing attributes provide important improvements in long-term waste management in terms of the ease in meeting technical performance requirements (perhaps even the feasibility of demonstrating that technical performance requirements can be met) and perhaps also in ultimate public acceptance. Actinide recycling, if successfully developed, could well help the current repository program by providing an opportunity to enhance capacity utilization and by deferring the need for future repositories. It also represents a viable technical backup option in the event unforeseen difficulties arise in the repository licensing process.

• OSTI ID: 5862571
• Report Number(s): CONF-930601-; CODEN: TANSAO
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 68; Conference: American Nuclear Society (ANS) annual meeting, San Diego, CA (United States), 20-24 Jun 1993; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
IFR REACTOR
PERFORMANCE
SPENT FUELS
PYROCHEMICAL REPROCESSING
ACTINIDE BURNER REACTORS
CARBON 14
IODINE 129
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
TECHNETIUM 99
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON ISOTOPES
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FUELS
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
IODINE ISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TECHNETIUM ISOTOPES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOI
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZERO POWER REACTORS
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
220600 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
050800 - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing