PLENTIFUL ENERGY

A pre-conceptual design for a pilot-scale pyroprocessing facility (100 ton/yr
throughput) for LWR spent fuel was developed at Argonne. Assuming a 500 kg/day
throughput rate and 200 days of operation leads to an annual throughput rate of 100
metric tons, which was the basis of the pre-conceptual design. Two electrorefiners,
with a 500-kg batch capability each, were provided, assuming the process time will
be more than 24 hours (to be conservative). Only one electrolytic reduction vessel is
assumed because of a higher throughput rate than that of an electrorefiner. The
cathode baskets of the electrolytic reduction vessel containing reduced metallic
spent fuel are designed to be transferred directly into the electrorefiner as its anode
baskets.
A more detailed engineering demonstration and operation is required for a really
solid basis for the cost estimate. However, a preliminary analysis indicates that even
a pilot-scale pyroprocessing facility for LWR spent fuel would be economically
viable. Any further scale up can be achieved by duplicating the process equipment
systems and some economies of scale, where they come in. It is plausible that a
pyroprocessing facility with, say an 800 ton/yr throughput, could be constructed at
far below the capital cost of an equivalent size aqueous reprocessing plant.
The Argonne pyroprocessing program has piqued some interest in several
countries, where modest research programs have been initiated. Republic of Korea
has the most ambitious such program and has made significant progress in
development.
There is real incentive to process the spent fuel from existing reactors to make it
much easier to deal with, as well as to reuse the useful portion, and in so doing, to
extend fuel resources by more than a hundredfold over the once-through-and-throwaway
fuel cycle. With the Obama administration cancelling funding for the Yucca
Mountain waste repository in 2010, there is literally no plan or process in place now
in the U.S. to deal with LWR spent fuel. It will continue to build up at nuclear
plants around the country, not wise as recent earthquake events in Japan may
indicate.
References
1. K. V. Gourishankar and E. J. Karell, ―Application of Lithium in Molten-Salt Reduction
Processes,‖ Light Metals 1999, ed., C. Edward Eckert, 1123-1128, The Minerals,
Metals & Materials Society, 1999.
2. K. V. Gourishanker, L. Redey and M Williamson, Light Metals 2002, ed. Wolfgang
Schneider, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1075-1082, 2002.
3. E. J. Karell, K. V. Gourishankar, J. L. Smith, L. S. Chow, and L. Redey, ―Separation of
Actinides from LWR Fuel using Molten Salt Based Electrochemical Processes,‖
Nuclear Technology, 136, 342-353, 2001.
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