Process Development Studies for Zirconium Recovery/Recycle from Used Nuclear Fuel Cladding

Conference · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proche.2012.10.013· OSTI ID:1050902

Collins, Emory D.  ^[1]; Del Cul, Guillermo  ^[1]; Spencer, Barry B.  ^[1]; Brunson, Ronald ^[1]; Johnson, Jared  ^[1]; Terekhov, D. S. ^[2]; Emmanuel, N. V. ^[3]; Huskey, Linda S. ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Chemical Vapor Metal Recovery, Inc.
3. Chemical Vapor Metal Refining, Inc.

Process development studies are being done to recover and reuse zirconium from used nuclear fuel (UNF) zirconium alloy cladding. This has been shown to be economically viable and is a major initiative in waste reduction. The studies have included recovery processes based on dry pyrochemical iodination, chlorination, and hydrochlorination. Chlorination, using either or both chlorine and hydrogen chloride, was shown to provide better performance and is more compatible for interfacing with existing industrial chlorination processes used for fuel rod cladding manufacture from natural zirconium. The chlorination recovery process could be used for chemical decladding of intact UNF assemblies or for treatment of empty cladding segment hulls. Future work is planned to optimize recovery process conditions, equipment design, and scale-up operations.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1050902
• Resource Relation: Journal Volume: 7; Conference: ATLANTE 2012 Nuclear Chemistry For Sustainable Fuel Cycles - LeCorum Montpellier, , France - 9/2/2012 12:00:00 AM-9/7/2012 12:00:00 AM
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
FUEL CYCLE
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
NUCLEAR FUELS
ZIRCONIUM
SPENT FUELS