Abstract
A novel dry treatment process for used nuclear fuel (UNF) using nitrogen dioxide is being developed to remove volatile and semi-volatile fission products and convert the monolithic fuel material to a fine powder suitable as a feed to many different separations processes. The process may be considered an advanced form of voloxidation, which was envisioned to remove tritium from the fuel prior to introduction of the fuel into the aqueous separations systems, where subsequent separation of tritium from the water would be difficult and expensive. The product from NO2 reaction can be selectively chosen to be U3O8, UO3, or a nitrate by adjusting the processing conditions; all products are generated at temperatures lower than those used in standard voloxidation. All the fundamental tenants of the process have been successfully demonstrated as a proof of principle, and many aspects have been corroborated multiple times at laboratory scale. The goal of this roadmap is to define the activities required to develop the process to a technology-readiness level sufficient to evaluate and estimate the cost of an engineering-scale implementation.
Original language | English |
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Pages | 879-881 |
Number of pages | 3 |
State | Published - 2013 |
Event | International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference: Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads, GLOBAL 2013 - Salt Lake City, UT, United States Duration: Sep 29 2013 → Oct 3 2013 |
Conference
Conference | International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference: Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads, GLOBAL 2013 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Salt Lake City, UT |
Period | 09/29/13 → 10/3/13 |