Integral fast reactor

C. E. TiU, The Riquid-Metal Reactor. Overview of the Integrated Fast Reactor Rationale and Basis for Its Development, Presented to National Academy Sciences Committee on Future Nuclear Power, Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, lU., Aug. 1989. 

A more recently developed pyrometaHurgical process is that of the proposed integral fast reactor, which would use metallic fuel (U—Pu—Zr alloy) and a molten salt electrorefiner as follows ... 

Recent studies on the electrochemical behavior of plutonium in molten salts have mainly been performed in LiCl— KCl based melts. The electrorefining step in a pyroprocessing procedure for the recycling of nuclear fuel from the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) Program has been... 

Fig. 21.27. Schematic of integral fast reactor and fuel cycle concept (IFR). (Courtesy USDOE.)...

Till, C., and Chang, Y., The Integral Fast Reactor, Advances in Nuclear Science, 20, 1988. 

IFR [Integral Fast Reactor] A pyrochemical process for processing the fuel from a fast nuclear reactor. The uranium metal fuel is dissolved in a fused melt of lithium and potassium chlorides and... 

If development goes as smoothly as projected, the integral fast reactor may be providing safe, economical power early in the twenty-first century, while adding no carbon dioxide or other pollutants to the atmosphere. ... 

In the 1980s, a new generation of nuclear fission reactors called Integral Fast Reactors was under development by the U.S. Department of Energy. This was a liquid sodium cooled reactor which was expected to be safer with minimal corrosion. It was also to be more efficient and able to use 15 to 20% of the uranium fuel instead of 1 to 2%. 

The Integral Fast Reactor would also be capable of breeding plutonium which could be used as nuclear fuel. This type of reactor was seen as the key to a nuclear future. Liquid sodium is a volatile substance that can burst into flames if it comes into contact with either air or water. An early liquid sodium-cooled breeder reactor, the Fermi I, had a melting accident when 2% of the core melted after a few days of operation. Four years later when the reactor was about to be put into operation again a small liquid sodium explosion occurred in the piping. 

C.E.Till, T. I. Chang, Progress and Status of the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) Fuel Cycle Development , Proc. of Int. Conf. on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles (1991) 1-6... 

The Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) was designed as a 62.5 MWt, metal fueled, pool reactor with a conventional 19 MWe power plant. The productive life of the EBR-II began with first operations in 1964. Demonstration of the fast reactor fuel cycle, serving as an irradiation facility, demonstration of fast reactor passive safety and lastly, was well on its way to close the fast breeder fuel cycle for the second time when the Integral Fast Reactor program was prematurely ended in October 1994 with the shutdown of the EBR-II. 

A Reference Design for the primary circuit of a 60 MWt experimental fast reactor is completed. Some parameters and characteristics have been selected mostly based on the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) concept. Fuel pin dimensions and other data were used for calculations which lead to a general core configuration. Some calculations were also independently performed at lEN, and the differences in methodologies are being evaluated. Table 1 shows the main primary circuit parameters. 

At end of life, LWR UNF is comprised of approximately 95% uranium, 1% TRUs, and 4% fission products [8]. Many of these TRU isotopes have long half-lives that can create long-term engineering challenges for geologic disposal [9]. The integral fast reactor (IFR)... 

D. C. Wade and Y. I. Chang, Integral Fast Reactor Concept Physics of Operation and Safety, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 100,507, 1988. 

C.E. Boardman, and M. Hui, A Competitive Integral Fast Reactor with Enhanced Diversion Resistance (S-PRISM), Proceedings of the International Conference on Future Nuclear Systems, Jackson Hole, WY, August 29-September 3, 1999. 

The technology base for the LFR is primarily derived from the Pb-Bi liquid alloy-cooled reactors employed by the Russian Alpha class submarines. Technologies developed from the integral fast reactor metal alloy fuel recycle and refabrication development, and from the advanced liquid metal reactor (ALMR) passive safety and modular design approach, may also be applicable to the LFR. The ferritic stainless steel and metal alloy fuel developed for sodium fast reactors may also be adaptable to the LFR for those concepts with reactor outlet temperatures in the range of BSO C. 

Burris, L., R. Steunenberg, and W.E. MiUer. 1987. The application of electrorefining for recovery and purification of fuel discharged from the integral fast reactor. AIChE Symposium Series No. 254 83 135-142. 

In a recent paper (SCGI Conference, 2012) titled "The Case for Near-term Commercial Demonstration of the Integral Fast Reactor," the positive aspects of the IFR and its implementation are discussed. The following is a quote from the synopsis of the paper ... 

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