Over the past decades, Orano (formerly AREVA) has been transporting, unloading, storing, and reprocessing research reactor spent fuel (RRSF) in its French facilities and with its equipment. This experience has resulted in the transportation and industrial-scale reprocessing of over 23 tons of RRSF (mainly of the Al type) at Orano's facilities in France, both in the Marcoule and the La Hague plants. In order to meet its customers growing needs in terms of RRSF management, Orano is developing new RRSF reprocessing capacities for the La Hague UP2-800 facility utilizing the lessons learned from the reprocessing of the current RRSF. This new facility is called the Traitement des Combustibles Particuliers or TCP and was introduced last year. The TCP is planned to reprocess several types of RRSF, including both Al and U_3Si_2 RRSF, and in the future may also be useful in the support of reprocessing LWR and fast reactor MOX fuels. The focus of the TCP is on developing shearing and dissolution processes for these fuel types that can be incorporated into, and operated along with, the existing La Hague facilities. This paper will cover each of the stages of the current reprocessing of RRSF at La Hague from its transportation to La Hague to its post-reprocessing vitrified waste production, provide an update on its status, and identifying the areas where the TCP will better facilitate the reprocessing of the RRSF. Ultimately, this paper illustrates the innovative solutions available to modify existing recycling/reprocessing facilities to address pseudo-unique used nuclear fuel (UNF) forms to improve/simplify backend UNF management.
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