WASTES ASSOCIATED WITH RECYCLING SPENT MOX FUEL INTO FAST REACTOR OXIDE FUEL

摘要

In the U.S., numerous studies have been performed that predict the volume of process and secondary wastes produced from a U.S. recycling plant recycling uranium oxide (UO_x) used nuclear fuel (UNF), however only a few studies have examined the volume of these wastes produced from the recycling of mixed oxide (MOX) UNF into sodium fast reactor (SFR) MOX fuel. The Department of Energy (DOE) has taken a leadership role and initiated a study with industry to determine waste generation from a UO_x and MOX UNF recycling plant located in the U.S. and hence, compliant with U.S. regulations. AREVA has drawn upon its industrial experience of UO_x and MOX UNF recycling at its La Hague facility, light water reactor (LWR) and fast reactor MOX fuel fabrication experience at MELOX and the ATPu plant on the Cadarache site in France, and its decades of experience as a leading designer, builder, and operator of back-end fuel cycle facilities to develop a model of a U.S. recycling plant, which is based on its COEX? technology, and to develop a realistic depiction and estimate of the types and quantities of the waste streams produced by such a U.S. facility. The throughput of this recycling facility was defined to be 800 initial metric tons heavy metal (MTIHM)/year with an input consisting of a blend of approximately 89% UO_x UNF and 11% MOX UNF to produce SFR MOX at a rate of 28 MTHM/year with an average content of 25% Pu in the MOX per specifications identified in government furnished information (GFI). This paper provides a summary of the process and secondary wastes produced from the recycling of the UO_x and MOX UNF and from the SFR fuel fabrication facility.