Process development report: 0. 20-m primary burner system

Technical Report · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6567646· OSTI ID:6567646

Rickman, W S

HTGR reprocessing consists of crushing the spent fuel elements to a size suitable for burning in a fluidized bed to remove excess graphite, separating the fissile and fertile particles, crushing and burning the SiC-coated fuel particles to remove the remainder of the carbon, dissolution and separation of the particles from insoluble materials, and solvent extraction separation of the dissolved uranium and thorium. Burning the crushed fuel elements is accomplished in a primary burner. This is a batch-continuous, fluidized-bed process utilizing above-bed gravity fines recycle. In gas-solid separation, a combination of a cyclone and porous metal filters is used. This report documents operational tests performed on a 0.20-m primary burner using crushed fuel representative of both Fort St. Vrain and large high-temperature gas-cooled reactor cores. The burner was reconstructed to a gravity fines recycle mode prior to beginning these tests. Results of two separate and successful 48-hour burner runs and several short-term runs have indicated the operability of this concept. Recommendations are made for future work.

• Research Organization: General Atomic Co., San Diego, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-03-0167
• OSTI ID: 6567646
• Report Number(s): GA-A-15088
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
BURNERS
COMBUSTORS
DESIGN
FLUIDIZED-BED COMBUSTORS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAS COOLED REACTORS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPENT FUEL ELEMENTS
TESTING