Follow-up analyses for the ANTT review.

Technical Report · Thu May 11 04:00:00 EDT 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/919324· OSTI ID:919324

Stillman, J A; Bauer, T H; Hill, R N; Wigeland, R A

Early in FY04, the Advanced Nuclear Transformation Technology (ANTT) subcommittee of the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee (NERAC) requested a report on repository benefits for recycling of key transuranics in existing light water-cooled reactors (LWRs). The ANTT reviewers specifically requested a quantification of how such a campaign would impact (improve) the achievable loading of nuclear waste in the Yucca Mountain facility. The request stipulated that the transuranics be separated from commercial spent nuclear fuel (CSNF) and recycled a finite number of times in LWR-compatible fuel forms. The spent fuel remaining at the end of the recycling campaign, as well as all other nuclear waste generated by spent fuel reprocessing, would be permanently disposed in a geologic repository. In response, two reports have been prepared and distributed as deliverables for the AFCI program. Reference 1 provides the final report which addresses the original ANTT sub-committee request. Plutonium, neptunium, and americium recycling strategies in assemblies fabricated from mixed-oxide (MOX), CORAIL (heterogeneous UO{sub 2} and MOX), and inert-matrix fuel (IMF) forms were evaluated; the focus of the report is the time-dependent thermal response of the repository to a given loading of nuclear waste in the storage tunnels (drifts), as well as a quantification of how the loading could be increased relative to the reference direct disposal of CSNF. Reference 2 provides a more complete description of the neutronics and mass flow analyses which were completed as part of the study. That report also provides an analysis of the differences between the various recycling strategies and the underlying reactor physics.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 919324
• Report Number(s): ANL-AFCI-132
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
ADVISORY COMMITTEES
AMERICIUM
NEPTUNIUM
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NUCLEAR FUELS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR PHYSICS
RECYCLING
REPROCESSING
SPENT FUELS
STORAGE
YUCCA MOUNTAIN