Argonne National Laboratory Processes Spent Reactor Fuel

摘要

Several U.S. Department of Energy laboratories are working on new approaches to recycling spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. One technology being considered for this is a revolutionary new process developed at Argonne National Laboratory to ease the burden of safely and economically disposing of thousands of tonnes of spent nuclear fuel now in temporary storage at these reactors. In one step, the technology converts spent commercial fuel, which is a ceramic oxide, into metal. The product can then be treated with Argonne's pyroprocessing technology to recover the uranium and transuranic elements for recycling into new fuel. This month's JOM cover photo shows Argonne chemist Laurel Barnes preparing for a test of the metal-oxide conversion process in a glove box. PYROX is Argonne National Laboratory's integrated pyrochemical process for the treatment of spent commercial light water reactor fuel, which is being developed for the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative. The high-throughput, cost-competitive process is designed to recover actinides for recycling to advanced nuclear reactors and to stabilize fission products in engineered waste forms suitable for repository disposal.