The focus of AFCI fuel treatment and recycling R&D is on developing advanced aqueous and electrochemical separations technologies that offer alternatives for treatment of existing and projected light water reactor used fuel in a safe, efficient manner and without separating pure plutonium. Fast Reactor (pdf)and its recycled constituents are also being evaluated for fuel treatment and recycling under the AFCI program. By separating used fuel into its reusable and waste components (pdf), the U.S. could implement a closed fuel cycle. A more efficient use of world natural-uranium resources, a reduction in volume, radiotoxicity (pdf) and heat of used nuclear fuel and other wastes requiring geologic disposal (pdf) are among the many possible benefits offered by a closed fuel cycle.
AFCI research primarily focuses on two key technologies
Advanced aqueous processing (pdf) -A separation process whereby used fuel is dissolved in aqueous solutions, separated with these solutions and result in oxide compounds which can be further processed and reused as fuel or stable waste forms for disposal.
Electrochemical processing (pdf) - A process whereby used fuel is dissolved in molten salts, an electric current applied, and the metal products collected at a cathode. The process yields solid metal products that have the potential to be used as fuel in fast reactors
Aqueous processing of used nuclear fuel has been performed on an industrial scale for several decades. Advanced aqueous processes have been developed and successfully demonstrated at the laboratory scale. Electrochemical processing, which was originally developed for processing of metal fuels from experimental fast reactors, has been demonstrated for more than a decade at an engineering scale at the Idaho National Laboratory using fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. While the electrochemical processing research is principally investigating recycle from fast reactor systems, with the addition of a front-end oxide reduction process, it may also be possible to use the electrochemical process on used light water reactor fuel.
(Chemical engineer Monica Regalbuto and technician Mark Clark working on Aqueous Separation)
New separations techniques are producing ixode powders ready for fuel fabrication without milling or grinding
