Chop-Leach Dissolution of Commercial Reactor Fuel

摘要

The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) program is being developed to address the disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and improve the performance of the geologic repository. To decrease the volume of waste sent to the repository, commercial fuel would be processed and separated into multiple components: a transuranic (TRU) stream to be converted to AFCI fuel and transmuted by fissioning to generate electrical power; separate ~(99)Tc and ~(129)I streams to be converted into targets for transmutation to short-lived nuclides; a U stream that meets the criteria for Class C low-level waste; and a high-level waste stream for repository disposal.