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Title: Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative AFC-1D, AFC-1G, and AFC-1H End of FY-07 Irradiation Report

Abstract

The purpose of the U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), now within the broader context of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), is to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products. Success in this undertaking could potentially dramatically decrease the volume of material requiring disposal with attendant reductions in long-term radio-toxicity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologic repository. One important component of the technology development is investigation of irradiation/transmutation effects on actinide-bearing metallic fuel forms containing plutonium, neptunium, americium (and possibly curium) isotopes. Goals of this initiative include addressing the limited irradiation performance data available on metallic fuels with high concentrations of Pu, Np and Am, as are envisioned for use as actinide transmutation fuels. The AFC-1 irradiation experiments of transmutation fuels are expected to provide irradiation performance data on non-fertile and low-fertile fuel forms specifically, irradiation growth and swelling, helium production, fission gas release, fission product and fuel constituent migration, fuel phase equilibria, and fuel-cladding chemical interaction. Contained in this report are the to-date physics evaluations performed on three of the AFC-1 experiments; AFC-1D, AFC-1G and AFC-1H. The AFC-1D irradiation experimentmore » consists of metallic non-fertile fuel compositions with minor actinides for potential use in accelerator driven systems and AFC-1G and AFC-1H irradiation experiments are part of the fast neutron reactor fuel development effort. The metallic fuel experiments and nitride experiment are high burnup analogs to previously irradiated experiments and are to be irradiated to = 40 at.% burnup.« less

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
Sponsoring Org.:
DOE - NE
OSTI Identifier:
919074
Report Number(s):
INL/EXT-07-13257
TRN: US0807355
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC07-99ID-13727
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; FAST NEUTRONS; FISSION; FISSION PRODUCTS; FUEL CYCLE; IRRADIATION; NUCLEAR ENERGY; NUCLEAR FUELS; TRANSMUTATION; 2007 Irradiation Report; AFC-1D, AFC-1G, AFC-1H; AFCI

Citation Formats

Debra J Utterbeck, Gray S Chang, and Misit A Lillo. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative AFC-1D, AFC-1G, and AFC-1H End of FY-07 Irradiation Report. United States: N. p., 2007. Web. doi:10.2172/919074.
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Debra J Utterbeck, Gray S Chang, & Misit A Lillo. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative AFC-1D, AFC-1G, and AFC-1H End of FY-07 Irradiation Report. United States. doi:10.2172/919074.
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Debra J Utterbeck, Gray S Chang, and Misit A Lillo. Sat . "Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative AFC-1D, AFC-1G, and AFC-1H End of FY-07 Irradiation Report". United States. doi:10.2172/919074. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/919074.
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@article{osti_919074,
title = {Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative AFC-1D, AFC-1G, and AFC-1H End of FY-07 Irradiation Report},
author = {Debra J Utterbeck and Gray S Chang and Misit A Lillo},
abstractNote = {The purpose of the U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), now within the broader context of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), is to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products. Success in this undertaking could potentially dramatically decrease the volume of material requiring disposal with attendant reductions in long-term radio-toxicity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologic repository. One important component of the technology development is investigation of irradiation/transmutation effects on actinide-bearing metallic fuel forms containing plutonium, neptunium, americium (and possibly curium) isotopes. Goals of this initiative include addressing the limited irradiation performance data available on metallic fuels with high concentrations of Pu, Np and Am, as are envisioned for use as actinide transmutation fuels. The AFC-1 irradiation experiments of transmutation fuels are expected to provide irradiation performance data on non-fertile and low-fertile fuel forms specifically, irradiation growth and swelling, helium production, fission gas release, fission product and fuel constituent migration, fuel phase equilibria, and fuel-cladding chemical interaction. Contained in this report are the to-date physics evaluations performed on three of the AFC-1 experiments; AFC-1D, AFC-1G and AFC-1H. The AFC-1D irradiation experiment consists of metallic non-fertile fuel compositions with minor actinides for potential use in accelerator driven systems and AFC-1G and AFC-1H irradiation experiments are part of the fast neutron reactor fuel development effort. The metallic fuel experiments and nitride experiment are high burnup analogs to previously irradiated experiments and are to be irradiated to = 40 at.% burnup.},
doi = {10.2172/919074},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007},
month = {Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007}
}
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DOI:  10.2172/919074
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  • The U. S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) seeks to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic actinide isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products, thereby dramatically decreasing the volume of material requiring disposition and the long-term radiotoxity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologic repository. The AFC-1 irradiation experiments on transmutation fuels are expected to provide irradiation performance data on non-fertile and low-fertile fuel forms specifically, irradiation growth and swelling, helium production, fission gas release, fission product and fuel constituent migration, fuel phase equilibria, and fuel-cladding chemical interaction. Containedmore » in this report are the to-date physics evaluations performed on three of the AFC-1 experiments; AFC-1D, AFC-1G and AFC-1H. The AFC-1D irradiation experiment consists of metallic non-fertile fuel compositions with minor actinides for potential use in accelerator driven systems and AFC-1G and AFC-1H irradiation experiments are part of the fast neutron reactor fuel development effort. The metallic fuel experiments and nitride experiment are high burnup analogs to previously irradiated experiments and are to be irradiated to = 40 at.% burnup and = 25 at.% burnup, respectively. Based on the results of the physics evaluations it has been determined that the AFC-1D experiment will remain in the ATR for approximately 4 additional cycles, the AFC-1G experiment for an additional 4-5 cycles, and the AFC-1H experiment for approximately 8 additional cycles, in order to reach the desired programmatic burnup. The specific irradiation schedule for these tests will be determined based on future physics evaluations and all results will be documented in subsequent reports.« less

  • ;
    The U. S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) seeks to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic actinide isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products, thereby dramatically decreasing the volume of material requiring disposition and the long-term radiotoxity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologic repository. The AFC-1 irradiation experiments on transmutation fuels are expected to provide irradiation performance data on non-fertile and low-fertile fuel forms specifically, irradiation growth and swelling, helium production, fission gas release, fission product and fuel constituent migration, fuel phase equilibria, and fuel-cladding chemical interaction. Containedmore » in this report are the to-date physics evaluations performed on three of the AFC-1 experiments; AFC-1D, AFC-1G and AFC-1H. The AFC-1D irradiation experiment consists of metallic non-fertile fuel compositions with minor actinides for potential use in accelerator driven systems and AFC-1G and AFC-1H irradiation experiments are part of the fast neutron reactor fuel development effort. These experiments are high burnup analogs to previously irradiated experiments and are to be irradiated to = 20 atom % burnup. Results of the evaluations show that AFC-1D will remain in the ATR for approximately 100 additional effective full power days (EFPDs), and AFC-1G and AFC-1H for approximately 300 additional EFPDs in order to reach the desired programmatic burnup. The specific irradiation schedule for these tests will be determined based on future physics evaluations and all results will be documented in subsequent reports.« less

  • The proposed AFC-2A and AFC-2B irradiation experiments are a continuation of the AFC-1 fuel test series currently in progress in the ATR. This document discusses the experiments and the planned activities that will take place.

  • An important long-term objective of advanced nuclear fuel cycle (AFC) technologies is to provide improvement in the long-term management of radioactive waste. Compared to a once-thru fuel cycle, it is possible to generate far less waste, and potentially easier waste to manage, with advanced fuel cycles. However, the precise extent and value of these benefits are complex and difficult to quantify. This document presents a status report of efforts within AFCI Systems Analysis to define and quantify the AFC benefits to geologic disposal, development of cooperative efforts with the US repository program, and participation with international evaluations of AFC impactsmore » on waste management. The primary analysis of repository benefits is conducted by ANL. This year repository impact evaluations have included: (1) Continued evaluation of LWR recycle benefits in support of scenario analysis. (2) Extension of repository analyses to consider long-term dose reductions. (3) Developing the opportunity for cooperation with the U.S. repository program. (4) International cooperation with OECD-NEA.« less

  • The U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), now within the broader context of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), seeks to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic actinide isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products, thereby dramatically decreasing the volume of material requiring disposal and the long-term radio-toxicity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologic repository. One important component of the technology development is actinide-bearing metallic transmutation fuel forms containing plutonium, neptunium, americium (and possibly curium) isotopes. The proposed AFC-2A and AFC-2B irradiation experiments are a continuation of themore » metallic fuel test series in progress in the ATR. This report documents the experiment description and test matrix of the proposed experiments and the Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) and fabrication schedule.« less