CHEMICAL REPROCESSING

The raw material for nuclear reactor fuel, uranium, exits the mining—milling sequence as uranium oxide. Because of its color, it is called yellow cake. The yellow cake is converted to uranium hexafluoride and enriched in 235u 

As the recycled fuel composition approaches steady state after approximately four cycles (1), the heat and radiation associated with and Pu require more elaborate conversion and fuel fabrication facihties than are needed for virgin fuel. The storage, solidification, packaging, shipping, and disposal considerations associated with wastes that result from this approach are primarily concerned with the relatively short-Hved fission products. The transuranic 

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (4th Edition) 

A variation of the classical fuel cycle is the breeder cycle. Special breeder reactors are used to convert fertile isotopes iato fissile isotopes, which creates more fuel than is burned (see Nuclear reactors, reactor types). There are two viable breeder cycles U/ Pu, and Th/ U. The thorium fuels were, however, not ia use as of 1995. A breeder economy implies the existence of both breeder reactors that generate and nonbreeder reactors that consume the fissile material. The breeder reactor fuel cycle has been partially implemented ia France and the U.K. 

The throwaway fuel cycle does not recover the energy values present ia the irradiated fuel. Instead, all of the long-Hved actinides are routed to the final waste repository along with the fission products. Whether or not this is a desirable alternative is determined largely by the scope of the evaluation study. For instance, when only the value of the recovered yellow cake and SWU equivalents are considered, the world market values for these commodities do not fully cover the cost of reprocessing (2). However, when costs attributable to the disposal of large quantities of actinides are considered, the classical fuel cycle has been the choice of virtually all countries except the United States. 

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Uranium-239 [13982-01 -9] has a half-life of 23.5 min neptunium-239 [13968-59-7] has a half-life of 2.355 d. Recycling or reprocessing of spent fuel involves separation of plutonium from uranium and from bulk fission product isotopes (see Nuclearreactors, chemical reprocessing). 

Fuel Characteristics. Historically, chemical reprocessing of irradiated fuel was developed specifically to handle the U.S. government s defense-related fuels. These were of two types. There were the very low enrichments and bum-ups, eg, 0.9% U and 2000 MW-d/t, as was used for... 

Chemical Reprocessing" in ECT2nd ed., under "Nuclear Reactors," Vol. 14, pp. 91—102, A. T. Gresky, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in ECT3rd ed.,... 

Spent fuel can be stored or disposed of intact, in a once-through mode of operation, practiced by the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry. Alternatively, spent fuel can be reprocessed, ie, treated to separate the uranium, plutonium, and fission products, for re-use of the fuels (see Nuclear REACTORS, CHEMICAL reprocessing). In the United States reprocessing is carried out only for fuel from naval reactors. In the nuclear programs of some other countries, especially France and Japan, reprocessing is routine. 

Concern about the potential diversion of separated reactor-grade plutonium has led to a reduction ia U.S. governmental support of development of both plutonium recycle and the Hquid metal reactor. This latter ultimately depends on chemical reprocessing to achieve its long-range purpose of generating more nuclear fuel than it bums ia generating electricity. 

In plutonium-fueled breeder power reactors, more plutonium is produced than is consumed (see Nuclearreactors, reactor types). Thus the utilisa tion of plutonium as a nuclear energy or weapon source is especially attractive to countries that do not have uranium-enrichment faciUties. The cost of a chemical reprocessing plant for plutonium production is much less than that of a uranium-235 enrichment plant (see Uranium and uranium compounds). Since the end of the Cold War, the potential surplus of Pu metal recovered from the dismantling of nuclear weapons has presented a large risk from a security standpoint. 

Brief details are given of two proposed resolutions on the subject of pyrolysis of waste plastic. The first states that pyrolysis and other methods of chemically reprocessing post-consumer plastics is a suitable way of diverting waste from landfills. The second resolution, supported by environmentalists, states that pyrolysis only recovers plastic s energy value, and should not be viewed as recycling. 

Ferrous sulfamate [SULFAMIC ACID AND SULFAMATES] (Vol 23) use m chemical reprocessing of nuclear fuel [NUCLEARREACTORS - CHEMICALREPROCESSING] (Vol 17)... 

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