Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment Spring 1998 Status Report on Argonne National Laboratory's R & D Activity (1998) / Chapter Skim
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3 Alternative EBR-II Spent Fuel Treatment Technologies
3 Alternative EBR-II Spent Fuel Treatment Technologies
Pages 13-22
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From page 13... ...
The acceptability of an extended-containment strategy, such as the HIC, depends on a number of factors, such as the time scale adopted for safety assessment of a geological repository and the chemical controls on radionucTide release. With respect to the time scale appropriate for safety analyses' the National Research Council's Committee on Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards states in its report:2 "We recommend calculation of the maximum risks of radiation releases whenever they occur as long as the geologic characteristics of the repository environment do not change significantly.
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From page 14... ...
Recent laboratory studies in solutions simulating environments expected in potential underground, high-level nuclear waste repositories have suggested that C-22 and Ti Grade-12 are immune to localized corrosion in these environments.4 However, it is extremely difficult to make reliable Tong-term predictions concerning the susceptibility to localized corrosion based on the electrochemical polarization technique used in this study which evaluates the probability that pitting will occur. Nevertheless, the design of this system should provide exceptional corrosion resistance since it combines the corrosion allowance of the outer container and its eventual role as sacrificial anode with the exceptional corrosion resistance of the inner container.
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From page 15... ...
The third option would be to couple GMODS directly to the Defense Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River where the borate fusion melt would be fed, without further processing, directly into the existing glass melter. The GMODS process is at a very early stage of development.
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From page 16... ...
In this report, the recommendation was made that, for treatment of Al-based spent nuclear fuel, "melt and dilute treatment is worm pursuing despite the additional development and infrastructure requirements because it allows more control over waste form composition and performance characteristics." 'I Technical Strategy for Treatment, Packaging, and Disposal of Aluminum-Base Spent Nuclear Fuel, a report of the Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Task Team, Department of Energy, Office of Spent Fuel Management, Vol. 1, Junel996,p.59.
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From page 17... ...
Use of the SRS PUREX facility for treatment of EBR-~I driver and blanket elements remaining after the ongoing EMT demonstration (about 43 metric tons of heavy metal) would require addressing successfully three significant considerations: I
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From page 18... ...
DIRECT PLASMA ARC-VITREOUS CERAMIC PROCESSls In this process, components of SNF's are melted and oxidized, with the help of an oxygen lance, in a rotating furnace containing molten ceramic materials at a temperature of 1600 °C or higher.'6 A direct current plasma torch that creates a high-temperature plasma between the hollow torch electrode and the rotating furnace (i.e., the external electrode) supplies the energy required in the process.
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From page 19... ...
Other questions that would have to be addressed to treat SNF, including the EBR-TT fuel remaining after the demonstration at ANL-W, would include feasibility, safety, and reliability of remote hot-cell operation; criticality control including the potential release of cooling water from the torch; process throughput and batch limits; off-gas treatment for high-tem~erature plasma arc process relative to containment of high levels of fission products such as ~37Cs and 9Tc; and qualification of the waste fond. With regard specifically to EBR-~!
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From page 20... ...
Unresolved safety issues at present preclude consideration of plasma arc processing as a viable alternative to the EMT process. ~8 For a discussion of transportation issues regarding spent fuel and other nuclear wastes, see Nuclear Wastes Technologies for Separations and Transmutation, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1996, pp.
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From page 21... ...
fuel. Although the PUREX process is well developed, the development of a versatile head-end process to handle mechanical decIadding, sodium removal, and zirconium sludge formation for EBR-~!
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