An Assessment of Continued R & D into an Electrometallurgical Approach for Treating DOE Spent Nuclear Fuel (1995) / Chapter Skim
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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" ~- - r 2. Study in more depth the advantages and disadvantages of continued R&D into electrometallurgical processing as a candidate technology for disposition of DOE spent nuclear fuel, specifically addressing the issues of technical feasibility, cost-effectiveness, suitability of the metallic waste form for long-term storage or geologic disposal, and nonproliferation implications, and write a report on the committee's assessments.
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for treating DOE's SNF consists of several unit operations: Head-end treatment, including fuel disassembly and steps such as oxide reduction, if required elec~oreilnlng; and Treatment of effluent electrorefin~ng streams, including processing of the uranium metal deposited at the steel cathode. The heart of the process is the electrorefining step, which employs a metallic feed, molten alkali metal salts as the reaction medium, and two cathodes, one steel and the other an immiscible pool of molten cadmium, to separate actinides from fission products and other nuclear reactor fuel materials.
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The process effluent consisting of cladding and noble metal fission products would undergo a metal waste consolidation process prior to being readied for disposal as high-level waste. THE DOE SPENT FUEL DSVENTORY The DOE has more than 150 different types of SNF stored as more than 200,000 units at DOE, nonDOE, and university facilities across the United States.3 The DOE filet is estimated to correspond to 2,618 metric tons of heavy metal (M~.
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4. An alternative way of categorizing the DOE's SNF is found in the DOE Spent Nuclear Fuel Technology Integration pl0z.6 In this approach, DOE SNF is assigned to 53 fuel categories in an effort to reflect more than just physical differences.
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Two other output streams are intended as waste streams for final geologic disposal: a molten salt stream containing fission products that would be captured by a synthetic zeolite to produce a waste form, and a metallic stream consisting of undissolved cladding hulls and noble metal fission products from the anode. Only preliminary data have been obtained on the characteristics of the proposed waste streams.
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Although the developers of the elec~ometallurgical technique argue that He technology is proliferation resistant, any SNF processing approach that is capable of separating fissionable materials Tom associated fission products and transuranic elements could be redirected to produce material with nuclear detonation capability. The committee believes that proliferation considerations are not a determining factor for choosing among SNF processing alternatives.
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and initial production of a sample metal waste form (March 1996)
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fuel and blanket assemblies are the following: Conclude tests of anode screen basket for fission product recovery; Demonstrate high-throughput electrorefiner design concept; Demonstrate the fi~-scale cathode processor; Demonstrate electrolyte filtration for particulate removal; Demonstrate engineering-scale zeolite column, dehydrating, and hot blending preparation equipment, Establish parameters for a metal waste form melting furnace; and Demonstrate multistage pyrocontactor for removal of TRUs Dom the electrolyte salt. If the DOE decides to develop the electrometallurgical process as a possible treatment for N-reactor file} from Hanford, the following steps from the ALL proposal through spring of ~ 996 will also be required: · Complete dissolution tests with unirradiated N-reactor fuel; Test anode assembly concept for high throughput of N-reactor final; Obtain 20 to 30 N-reactor filet assemblies at the ANL-West site; Develop process chemistry for oxide reduction and lithium recycle; S-8
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Disadvantages: · The process will not readily handle all types of DOE spent fuels; head-end processes need to be developed.
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If the uranium product were to be a waste stream but not acceptable for geologic disposal, the additional processing steps (e.g., oxidation) would bring into question the usefulness of the proposed electrometallurgical technology.
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Further development of the lithium reduction process shouic! be carried out only if the DOE decides that it is likely that the electrometallurgical approach will be pursued as a possible treatment for the oxidized N-reactor fuel at Hanford.
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