The Savannah River Site is the U.S. Department of Energy's preferred site for return and treatment of all aluminum-base, spent, research and test reactor fuel assemblies. A pilot-scale L-Area Experimental Facility (LEF) is planned to validate induction furnace operations, remote handling, and the off gas system for trapping volatile elements under plant operating conditions.
The melt-dilute treatment technology program is focused on the development and implementation of a treatment technology for diluting highly enriched (>20 percent 235U) aluminum spent nuclear fuel to low enriched levels (
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for management of aluminum spent fuel from foreign and domestic research reactors, much of which is highly enriched in uranium-235. This EIS will assess the need for additional treatment and storage facilities at the Savannah River Site to accommodate the receipt of this fuel, and it also will assess and select a treatment technology to prepare this fuel for interim storage and eventual shipment to a repository for disposal. This National Research Council book, which was prepared at the request of DOE's Savannah River Office, provides a technical assessment of the technologies, costs, and schedules developed by DOE for eight alternative treatment options and the baseline reprocessing option. It also provides comments on DOE's aluminum spent fuel disposal program, a program that is slated to last for about 40 years and cost in excess of $2 billion.
The melt-dilute treatment technology program is focused on the development and implementation of a treatment technology for diluting highly enriched (approximately 20 percent 235U) aluminum spent nuclear fuel to low enriched levels (less than 20 percent) 235U and qualifying the LEU Al-SNF form for geologic repository storage. Typically, many domestic and foreign research reactor fuel assemblies were manufactured using highly enriched uranium-aluminum alloys. These assemblies have been irradiated and the burn-up levels range from 30-70 percent. In order to reduce the enrichment of these assemblies prior to ultimate geologic repository disposal, the melt-dilute technology proposes to melt these SNF assemblies and then dilute with additions of depleted uranium. Dilution levels of less than 20 percent are desired. Benefits accrued from this process when compared to the direct disposal option include the potential for significant volume reduction, reduced criticality potential, and the potential for enhanced SNF form characteristics.
The United States Department of Energy has selected the Savannah River Site (SRS) as the location to consolidate and store Aluminum Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF), originating in the United States, from Foreign Research Reactor (FRR) and Domestic Research Reactor (DRR) through the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. These SNF are either in service, being stored in water basins or in dry storage casks at the reactor sites, or have been transferred to SRS and stored in water basins. A portion of this inventory contains HEU. Since the fuel receipts would continue for several decades beyond projected SRS canyon operations, it is anticipated that it will be necessary to develop disposal technologies that do not rely on reprocessing. The Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Task Team, appointed by the Office of Spent Fuel Management of DOE, assessed and identified the most promising technology options for the alternative disposition of aluminum based domestic and foreign research reactor SNF in a geologic repository. The most promising options identified by the task team were direct/ co-disposal and melt-dilute technologies. The DOE through the SRS has evaluated the two options and has identified Melt-Dilute Treatment Technology as the preferred alternative in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the ultimate disposal of Al-SNF in the Mined Geologic Disposal System.
This book contains papers from a NATO-sponsored workshop in Almaty in September 2005, which discussed safety-related issues of storing spent nuclear fuel. Fifteen papers cover aluminum-clad fuel discharged from research reactors worldwide, while five papers examine stainless steel-clad fuel from fast reactors, and two Zircaloy-clad fuel from commercial light-water reactors.
