Advanced Spent Fuel Processing
Technologies for the Global Nuclear
Energy PartnershipJames J. Laidler, D.Sc.
Argonne National Laboratory
GNEP National Technical Director, Separations
9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and TransmutationNîmes, France
27 September 2006

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership

Elements of GNEP: Reprocessing
 Fuel leasing and take-back by supplier nations forreprocessing
 No separated plutonium Deployment after 2020 in the United States

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

2The U.S. Situation
 103 LWRs in commercial operation for generation ofelectricity Approximately 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuelgenerated each year
 U.S. utilities have now accumulated about 52,000 tonsof spent fuel; awaiting disposal in the Yucca Mountaingeologic repository, which will be over-subscribed by2015
 Want to avoid the need for a second repository

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

3

Commercial Spent Fuel Inventory, metric tons

Projected Spent Fuel Accumulation without Recycling
1e+68e+5
MIT Study 2003 (~3.2%)

6e+54e+5
EIA 1.8% growth

2e+5Repository Technical Capacity
Based on Limited Exploration
Legislated Capacity of Repository

02000

2020

2040

2060

2080

2100

Year

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

4

U.S. GNEP Spent Fuel Processing Scheme

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

5

Requirements for LWR Spent Fuel Processing Ability to accommodate very high throughputs(>2,000 t/y ) economically Ability to achieve very high decontamination of theactinide products from lanthanide fission products
 No separated plutonium stream
 Flexibility to adapt to thermal reactor recycle of mixedoxide fuel if required Led to choice of an aqueous solvent extraction process
as the reference process– Suite of UREX+ processes
9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

6

Suite of UREX+ Processes
Process

Prod #1 Prod #2 Prod #3 Prod #4

Prod #5

Prod #6

Prod #7

FP

UREX+1U

Tc

Cs/Sr TRU+Ln

UREX+1aU

Tc

Cs/Sr

TRU

UREX+2

U

Tc

Cs/Sr

Pu+Np Am+Cm+Ln

UREX+3

U

Tc

Cs/Sr

Pu+NpAm+Cm

All FP

UREX+4U

Tc

Cs/Sr

Pu+NpAmCm

All FPFPAll FP

Notes: (1) in all cases, iodine is removed as an off-gas from the dissolution process.
(2) processes are designed for the generation of no liquid high-level wastes
U: uranium (removed in order to reduce the mass and volume of high-level waste)
Tc: technetium (long-lived fission product, prime contributor to long-term dose at Yucca Mountain)
Cs/Sr: cesium and strontium (primary short-term heat generators; repository impact)
TRU: transuranic elements (Pu: plutonium, Np: neptunium, Am: americium, Cm: curium)
Ln: lanthanide (rare earth) fission productsFP: fission products other than cesium, strontium, technetium, iodine, and the lanthanides

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

7

Projected LWR Spent Fuel Processing Criteria
 Generation of no high-level liquid wastes requiringextended underground tank storage
 “Limited emissions” goal
– Recovery of I, Kr, 3H, 14CO2

 Added fuel cycle costs to amount to no more than 10%
increase in the busbar cost of electricity
 Efficient removal and immobilization of long-lived
fission products (specifically iodine and technetium) Ten-fold or greater reduction in high-level waste
volume relative to direct disposal of spent fuel ≥99.9% removal of transuranics and short-lived fission
products (Cs, Sr)
9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

8

Relative Increase in Repository Capacity
by Recycling
Assumptions
225.0

Burnup: 50 GWd/MT
Separation: 25 years
Emplacement: 25 years
Closure: 100 years

175.0

Limited by 96 ºC
Mid-Drift Temp.
>1600 yrs

Limited by 200 ºC Drift Wall
Temp. at Emplacement

94.0

91.0

Limited by 200 ºC Drift
Wall Temp. at Closure

54.0
44.0
10.5
1.00.001

10.3

1.0

0.01

Fraction Cs & Sr
in Waste

10.0
4.4

1.0
0.1

5.5

1.0
11

0.1

5.7
0.01

0.001

Fraction Pu, Am, & Cm
in Waste

Reference: R. A. Wigeland et al., Nuclear Technology, 154 (April 2006), pp 95-106.

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

9

UREX+1a Process

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation10

Tc Metal Product from Pyrolysis in Wet Argon(Work done by UNLV and LANL)

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

11

Laboratory-Scale Testing of the UREX+1a Process(July 2006, 1 kg LWR spent fuel; Cooper [BWR, 34 GWd/t] and H.B. Robinson [PWR, 76 GWd/t])

Element

Recovery Eff.

Uranium

99.9992%

Technetium

98.3%

Cesium>99.2%

Strontium>99.9%

Plutonium>99.99%Neptunium>99.99%Americium>99.99%Curium

>99.999%

Remarks
Non-TRU (<100 nCi/g)
Soluble Tc

Total lanthanide contentof transuranics <0.05%(DF>2,000)

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

12

Pyroprocess Applications
 Reduction of UREX+1a oxide product to metal using
an electrochemical reduction process (for transuranicrecycle as metallic ABR fuel) Electrochemical processing of metallic ABR spent fuelfor recovery and recycle of transuranics
 Processing of oxide ABR spent fuel– Alternative to aqueous process– May require aqueous polishing step to reduce lanthanide
content of product9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

13

Pyrochemical Processing of FR Spent Fuel

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

14

Future Directions of the U.S. Program Construction and operation of the Consolidated Fuel
Treatment Center (CFTC) by 2020
– 500 – 2,500 tons per year Decision by the Secretary of Energy on proceeding inJune 2008
 (Alternative) Engineering-scale demonstration of theUREX+1a process at reduced scale Complete development of UREX+1a process in 2009
 Continue development of pyroprocessing technology

9th IEM on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

15