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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment

FINAL REPORT

Committee on Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications

National Research Council

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

Support for this project was provided by the National Academy of Sciences, the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

International Standard Book Number 0-309-07095-3

Copyright 2000 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Additional copies of this report are available from:

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

National Research Council

2101 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20418

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Engineering

Institute of Medicine

National Research Council

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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COMMITTEE ON ELECTROMETALLURGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR DOE SPENT FUEL TREATMENT

GREGORY R. CHOPPIN,

Florida State University,

Chair

MICHAEL J. APTED,

MonitorSci, Inc.

PATRICIA A. BAISDEN,

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

EDITH M. FLANIGEN,

UOP (retired)

CHARLES L. HUSSEY,

University of Mississippi

FLORIAN MANSFELD,

University of Southern California

L. EUGENE MCNEESE,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ROBERT A. OSTERYOUNG,

North Carolina State University

PAUL G. SHEWMON,

Ohio State University

RALPH E. WHITE,

University of South Carolina

Staff

CHRISTOPHER K. MURPHY, Study Director

DOUGLAS J. RABER, Director,

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

JOHN L. ANDERSON,

Carnegie Mellon University,

Co-chair

LARRY E. OVERMAN,

University of California at Irvine,

Co-chair

BARBARA J. GARRISON,

Pennsylvania State University

ALICE P. GAST,

Stanford University

LOUIS C. GLASGOW,

DuPont Fluoroproducts

KEITH E. GUBBINS,

North Carolina State University

NANCY B. JACKSON,

Sandia National Laboratories

JIRI JONAS,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

GEORGE E. KELLER II,

Union Carbide Company (retired)

RICHARD A. LERNER,

Scripps Research Institute

GREGORY A. PETSKO,

Brandeis University

WAYNE H. PITCHER, JR.,

Genencor International, Inc.

KENNETH N. RAYMOND,

University of California at Berkeley

PAUL J. REIDER,

Merck Research Laboratories

LYNN F. SCHNEEMEYER,

Bell Laboratories

MARTIN B. SHERWIN,

ChemVen Group, Inc.

JEFFREY J. SIIROLA,

Eastman Chemical Company

CHRISTINE S. SLOANE,

General Motors

PETER J. STANG,

University of Utah

JOHN T. YATES, JR.,

University of Pittsburgh

STEVEN W. YATES,

University of Kentucky

DOUGLAS J. RABER, Director

RUTH MCDIARMID, Senior Program Officer

CHRISTOPHER K. MURPHY, Program Officer

SYBIL A. PAIGE, Administrative Associate

MARIA P. JONES, Senior Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS

PETER M. BANKS,

Veridian Corporation/ERIM International, Inc.,

Co-chair

W. CARL LINEBERGER,

University of Colorado,

Co-chair

WILLIAM F. BALLHAUS, JR.,

Lockheed Martin Corporation

SHIRLEY CHIANG,

University of California at Davis

MARSHALL H. COHEN,

California Institute of Technology

RONALD G. DOUGLAS,

Texas A&M University

SAMUEL H. FULLER,

Analog Devices, Inc.

JERRY P. GOLLUB,

Haverford College

MICHAEL F. GOODCHILD,

University of California at Santa Barbara

MARTHA P. HAYNES,

Cornell University

WESLEY T. HUNTRESS, JR.,

Carnegie Institution

CAROL M. JANTZEN,

Savannah River Technology Center

PAUL G. KAMINSKI,

Technovation, Inc.

KENNETH H. KELLER,

University of Minnesota

JOHN R. KREICK,

Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company (retired)

MARSHA I. LESTER,

University of Pennsylvania

DUSA M. MCDUFF,

State University of New York at Stony Brook

JANET L. NORWOOD,

Former U.S. Commissioner of Labor Statistics

M. ELISABETH PATÉ-CORNELL,

Stanford University

NICHOLAS P. SAMIOS,

Brookhaven National Laboratory

ROBERT J. SPINRAD,

Xerox PARC (retired)

MYRON F. UMAN, Acting Executive Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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Preface

The Committee on Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment was appointed by the National Research Council in 1994 as a result of an initial request by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for an independent evaluation of the technical viability of electrometallurgical processing technology proposed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) as a potential approach for the treatment of DOE spent nuclear fuel. The committee completes its technical evaluation with this, its tenth and final report. Evaluation of the scientific progress of ANL’s electrometallurgical program has remained at the core of the committee’s charge throughout its existence. Within this core mission, the committee has also responded to other, more focused requests by DOE to examine specific issues related to the potential use of electrometallurgical technology. This evaluation has led to ten reports covering all aspects of ANL’s electrometallurgical demonstration project.

As the specific tasks undertaken by the committee have evolved over the last five years, the committee membership has evolved accordingly as the National Research Council (NRC) has enlisted the assistance of volunteers with appropriate expertise (dates of service are in parentheses), whose contributions to the work of the committee are acknowledged here:

FRED BASOLO, Northwestern University, Chair (1994-1995),

GREGORY R. CHOPPIN, Florida State University, Chair (1996-2000),

JOHN F. AHEARNE, Duke University and Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society (1996-1997),

MICHAEL J. APTED, MonitorSci, Inc. (1994-2000),

PATRICIA A. BAISDEN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1994-2000),

SOL BURSTEIN, Wisconsin Electric Power Co. (retired) (1994-1996),

EDITH M. FLANIGEN, UOP (retired) (1996-2000),

CHARLES L. HUSSEY, University of Mississippi (1998-2000),

BERNARD KEAR, Rutgers University (1998-1999),

ALFRED F. LACAMERA, ALCOA Technical Center (1994-1995),

FLORIAN MANSFELD, University of Southern California (1998-2000),

L. EUGENE MCNEESE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1994-2000),

LAWRENCE J. MULLINS, Los Alamos National Laboratory (retired) (1994-1995),

ROBERT A. OSTERYOUNG, North Carolina State University (1994-2000),

JOHN D. SHERMAN, UOP (1996-1997),

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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PAUL G. SHEWMON, The Ohio State University (1999-2000),

RALPH E. WHITE, University of South Carolina (1998-2000),

JOEL D. WILLIAMS, Los Alamos National Laboratory (1996-1999), and

RAYMOND G. WYMER, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired) (1994-1997).

This study was conducted under the auspices of the NRC’s Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology with assistance provided by its staff. The committee also acknowledges this support.

Gregory R. Choppin, Chair

Committee on Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the authors and the NRC in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:

John F. Ahearne, Duke University and Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society,

Robert Budnitz, Future Resources Associates, Inc.,

Robert L. Fleischer, Union College,

Harold Forsen, Bechtel Corporation,

Lloyd Heldt, Michigan Technological University,

J. Brent Hiskey, University of Arizona,

Royce W. Murray, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and

Thomas Pigford, University of California at Berkeley.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Norman Hackerman (The Robert A. Welch Foundation), appointed by the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications, and Robert Connick (University of California at Berkeley), appointed by the Report Review Committee, who were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2000. Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9883.
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The Committee on Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment was formed in September 1994 in response to a request made to the National Research Council (NRC) by the U.S. Department of Energy DOE. DOE requested an evaluation of electrometallurgical processing technology proposed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for the treatment of DOE spent nuclear fuel. Electrometallurgical treatment of spent reactor fuel involves a set of operations designed to remove the remaining uranium metal and to incorporate the radioactive nuclides into well defined and reproducible waste streams. Over the course of the committee's operating life, this charge has remained constant. Within the framework of this overall charge, the scope of the committee's work—as defined by its statement of task—has evolved in response to further requests from DOE, as well as technical accomplishments and regulatory and legal considerations. As part of its task, the committee has provided periodic assessments of ANL's R&D program on the electrometallurgical technology.

Electrometallurgical Techniques for DOE Spent Fuel Treatment assesses the viability of electrometallurgical technology for treating DOE spent nuclear fuel and monitors the scientific and technical progress of the ANL program on electrometallurgical technology, specifically within the context of ANL's demonstration project on electrometallurgical treatment of EBR-II SNF. This report evaluates ANL's performance relative to the success criteria for the demonstration project, which have served as the basis for judging the efficacy of using electrometallurgical technology for the treatment of EBR-II spent nuclear fuel. It also addresses post-demonstration activities related to ANL's electrometallurgical demonstration project, and makes related recommendations in this area.

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