Argonne Scientists Studying 3-D Printing to Increase the Efficiency of Spent Fuel Recycling

摘要

Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are currently studying how to use 3-D printing to make parts that will help to increase the amount of spent nuclear fuel that can be recycled, which will in turn decrease the amount of waste that will accumulate in the US and could help close the nuclear fuel cycle. The team published a paper detailing its findings in the September edition of Scientific Reports of the Nature Research journal, an international journal of science. The team has used 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, to build parts that can increase recycling efficiency of total materials from 95 percent to 97 percent by removing long-lived isotopes americium (Am) and Curium (Cm) using a bank of 1.25-cm rotor diameter centrifugal contactors and a simulant containing the major fission product elements. ANL noted that while 2 percent doesn’t seem all that significant, separating these so-called minor actinides including Am, Cm, and neptunium (Np), could minimize the negative downstream effects of nuclear power. After separation, the minor actinides could either be transmuted to stable or shortlived isotopes in Generation IV fast neutron reactors or be disposed of in a compact waste form that is specifically designed to isolate these elements. The transmutation approach presents benefits for geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel by increasing the loading capacity of the repository by reducing the heat load, and by reducing the long-term radiotoxicity of the disposed material. Andrew Breshears, an Argonne nuclear chemist and co-author, stated, “Rather than store five percent for hundreds of thousands of years, the remaining three percent needs to be stored at a maximum of about one thousand years.” He added, “In other words, this additional step may reduce the length of storage almost one thousandfold.” And breaking down that nuclear material in a fourth generation fast reactor would generate additional electricity.