Reactor fuel, irradiated, Hanford

The other full-scale applications of the Thorex process have been to separation of from thorium irradiated at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission s production reactors at Savannah Rivet and Hanford. As the object of these irradiations was to produce of high isotopic purity for use in the first core of the LWBR, the bumup to which the fuel was exposed was low, and the concentrations of uranium and fission products in the irradiated thorium were much lower than will exist in power reactor fuel irradiated to full bumup. Nevertheless, the successful separation of uranium and thorium from each other and from fission products is significant confirmation of the workability of the Thorex process. 

Large-scale plutonium recovery/processing facilities originated at Los Alamos and Hanford as part of the Manhattan Project in 1943. Hanford Operations separated plutonium from irradiated reactor fuel, whereas Los Alamos purified plutonium, as well as recovered the plutonium from scrap and residues. In the 1950 s, similar processing facilities were constructed at Rocky Flats and Savannah River. 

Irradiated Fuel A historically important and continuing mission at the Hanford site is to chemically process irradiated reactor fuel to recover and purify weapons-grade plutonium. Over the last 40 years, or so, several processes and plants— Bismuth Phosphate, REDOX, and PUREX—have been operated to accomplish this mission. Presently, only the Hanford PUREX Plant is operational, and although it has not been operated since the fall of 1972, it is scheduled to start up in the early 1980 s to process stored and currently produced Hanford -Reactor fuel. Of nine plutonium-production reactors built at the Hanford site, only the N-Reactor is still operating. 

Plutonium Scrap Processing. In addition to recovering plutonium from irradiated reactor fuel, a Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF)( 7,8) is operated at the Hanford site to recover, separate, and purTfy kilogram amounts of plutonium from a wide range of unirradiated scrap materials. A 20 percent TBP-CC1 k solution is used to extract Pu(IV) from HN03-HF-A1(N03)3 solutions of dissolved scrap. 

All N Reactor fuel has been removed from the facility and is being stored for the near term in fuel storage basins on the Hanford Site. Unencapsulated fuel will be encapsulated. The final disposition of over 1,800 metric tons of unirradiated nuclear fuel and 2,100 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel will be addressed subsequent to the completion of DOE complex-wide material disposition studies. 

A countercurrent HDEHP extraction process was used at Hanford in the late 1960s as part of the processing sequence for recovering and purifying 1 kg of Am and 50 g of Cm from irradiated Shippingport reactor fuel [50]. 

As operator of the Hanford N-Reactor, United Nuclear Industries Is faced with a variety of fissile material shipping problems. Transportation of both irradiated and unirradiated fuel takes place between Hanford contractors and off-site locations. The largest amount of fissile material, in the form of finished fuel assemblies, is shipped by an exclusive-use motor carrier from the UNI Fuel Fabrication Facility to the N-Reactor plant 30 miles away. 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ordered the permanent cessation of production operations of N Reactor in February of 1991. The facility was dedicated to the Irradiation of nuclear fuel on the Hanford Site In south-central Washington State. 

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