| Project Detail |
The U.S. has accumulated approximately 86,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel (UNF) from light-water reactors (LWRs), a value that increases by approximately 2,000 tons per year. This UNF is destined for permanent disposal even though more than 90% of its energy remains. Innovative technologies that enable the secure, economical reprocessing of the nation’s LWR UNF could substantially reduce the volume, heat load, and radiotoxicity of waste requiring permanent disposal while providing a valuable and sustainable fuel feedstock for advanced fast reactors. CURIE seeks to research innovative separations technologies, material accountancy, and online monitoring technologies, as well as designs for a reprocessing facility that will enable group recovery of actinides for advanced reactor (AR) feedstocks, incorporate in situ process monitoring, minimize waste volumes, enable a 1¢/kilowatt-hour (kWh) fuel cost for AR fuels, and maintain disposal costs in the range of 0.1¢/kWh.
Project Innovation + Advantages:
NuVision Engineering will design, build, commission, and operate an integrated material accountancy test platform that will predict post-process nuclear material accountancy within 1% uncertainty for an aqueous reprocessing plant. Current U.S. reprocessing plants utilize commercial process equipment for pumping, mixing, and sampling that requires regular maintenance and replacement due to radiolytic degradation of seals and other non-metallic components. To reduce reprocessing facility downtime, sampling equipment is often duplicated so that one system can be used while the other is undergoing maintenance. A typical reprocessing plant’s footprint must also accommodate the mechanical handling equipment needed to maintain and replace the sampling process equipment. To address these drawbacks, NuVision will fabricate its accountancy platform as a modular unit integrating power fluidics (PF) and online optical spectroscopy (OOS) systems into the vessel to last an aqueous reprocessing plant’s lifetime. The OOS system facilitates real-time monitoring of uranium and plutonium concentrations. The PF suite will have no moving parts and will include devices to mix, sample, and pump highly radioactive fluids to provide real-time liquid level and density data. This will remove the need for duplication and maintenance equipment thereby significantly reducing the reprocessing plant footprint.
Potential Impact:
By enabling the secure and economical recycling of the nation’s inventory of LWR UNF, CURIE will have the following impacts: |
