State-of-the-art simulation of a U--Pu partitioning column for nuclear fuel reprocessing

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6570615

Yih, S M; Burkhart, L

A ''state-of-the-art'' simulation of a pulse column for nuclear fuel reprocessing was developed. The stagewise mathematical model is similar to the differenced form of a continuous differential model. It was written to include the chemical kinetics of five key chemical reactions involved in the partition of uranium and plutonium using hydroxylamine as the reductant and hydrazine as a stabilizing agent. Three different versions of the model were compared against data from the partitioning column at the Hanford Plutonium Reclamation Facility. All three models meet the required purity specifications for the uranium and the plutonium product streams. In addition, the concentration profiles for Pu(III) and Pu (IV) are not greatly different for the three models, however two important points stand out. First, the plutonium concentration peak is higher in the more detailed model and second, the total plutonium inventory is higher in the detailed model. These differences are important from a nuclear safety analysis standpoint and the simpler models now in use may not, as presently thought, give a conservative estimate of peak plutonium concentration and total plutonium inventory.

• Research Organization: Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• OSTI ID: 6570615
• Report Number(s): IS-M-149; CONF-781105-32; TRN: 79-001733
• Resource Relation: Conference: ANS meeting, Washington, DC, USA, 12 Nov 1978
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
EXTRACTION COLUMNS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PLUTONIUM
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SPENT FUELS
REPROCESSING
URANIUM
HYDRAZINE
HYDROXYLAMINE
PARTITION
REDUCTION
SIMULATION
STABILIZATION
ACTINIDES
AMINES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXTRACTION
EXTRACTION APPARATUSES
FUELS
METALS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NUCLEAR FUELS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
REACTOR MATERIALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
050800* - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing