Multipurpose plant for commercial

Design, Construction, and Operation of a Multipurpose Plant for Commercial Supercritical Gas Extraction... 

Design of the plant began in 1983 and was originally focused on a multipurpose reactor for high population density areas, for industrial heat production and especially, for water desalination and district heating. These uses were the main reason for an emphasis on safety requirements, to avoid subjecting the population to radiological hazards. At the same time, for commercial appeal, the new plant had to be economically competitive with traditional nuclear and fossil fuel power plants. 

The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant is a versatile, multipurpose facility used for recovering highly enriched uranium from a variety of fuels in naval propulsion, research, and test reactors. Materials processed [Al] include aluminum-alloyed, zirconium-alloyed, stainless steel-based, and graphite-based fuels. The West Valley plant, although designed primarily for low-enriched uranium fuel from power reactors, also processed plutonium-enriched and thorium-based fuels. It is the only U.S. plant to have reprocessed fuel from commercial nuclear power plants. 

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