Uranium reprocessed depleted

Table 4 Composition of natural depleted uranium (NDU) and reprocessed depleted uranium (RDU) ...

As is well known, ammunition containing depleted uranium (DU) was used by NATO, for example, in the former Yugoslavia. To evaluate the origin of DU (enrichment process of natural uranium or reprocessing of exhausted nuclear fuel) it is necessary to directly detect the presence... 

The fast breeder reactor cycle in this cycle, the spent fuel is similarly reprocessed and the uranium and plutonium fabricated into new fuel elements. However, they are recycled to fast breeder reactors, in which there is a central core of uranium/plutonium fuel surrounded by a blanket of depleted uranium (uranium from which most of the uranium-235 atoms have been removed during the process of enrichment) or to burner reactors. This depleted uranium consists mostly of uranium-238 atoms, some of which are converted to plutonium during irradiation. By suitable operation, fast breeder reactors thus can produce slightly more fuel than they consume, hence the name breeder (see Fig. 7.1). 

Uranium (ca. 20% is used as the fuel, but mainly with 239pu in the form of a UO2/PUO2 mixture. The breeding blanket consists of depleted uranium from isotope separation plants or from reprocessing plants for spent nuclear fuels. Axially movable boron carbide absorbers are distributed in the fuel zone for shutting down purposes. The uranium utilized can be ca. 100 times better utilized than e.g. in light-water reactors. 

During the reprocessing of depleted uranium, a highly stable and viscous water-in-oil emulsion is... 

The extended radiation time for the domestic fuel increases the quantity of fission products and the higher actinides. Pure plutonium product poses nuclear weapons proliferation risk and is the primary reason reprocessing is not practiced in the United States. The modified PUREX process has been practiced on an industrial scale in Europe and supports the production of mixed uranium-plutonium fuel. Blended UO2 and PUO2 powder is compacted and sinter to form the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel pellets much like the enriched UO2 fuel. Natural and depleted uranium can be used to prepare MOX fuel and is the demonstrated option to recover fuel values from spent fuel. 

Diehl P (2003) Hazards from depleted uranium produced from reprocessed uranium, WISE uranium project, fact sheet, available at http //www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/pdf/durepe.pdf... 

Widespread use of the fast breeder reactor could increase the utilization of uranium by approximately 50-fold. This type of reactor can be started up on plutonium derived from conventional reactors and operated in closed circuit with its reprocessing plant. Such a reactor, supplied with natural or depleted uranium for its fertile blanket, can be operated so that each toime of ore yields 60 times more energy than in a conventional reactor. 

Operating with a sodium-cooled fast neutron core, ASTRID is expected to produce approximately 600 MW of electricity. Before the construction of a first-off commercial unit, a demonstration facility is needed to test innovations with respect to previous FNRs. The FNR greatly improves the amount of energy derived from depleted or reprocessed natural uranium, enables plutonium to be used and recycled several times and can recycle minor actinides if needed. Such reactors are currently being built or are on the drawing board in India, Russia, China, and Japan. 

It is assumed that eontent in depleted uranium is in the range between 0.2% and 0.3% (by weight) reprocessing/recyele of fissile materials remaining in the fuel is not taken into consideration in this calculatiom... 

AHWR = Advanced Heavy Water Reactor Dep. U = Depleted Uranium Fuel Reproc. = Fuel Reprocessing HWB = Heavy Water Board IRE = Indian Rare Earth NFC = Nuclear Fuels Complex SSSF = Solid Storage and Survellance Facility UCIL = Uranium Corporation of India Limited WIP = Waste Immobilization Plant. 

Only natural or depleted uranium is enough to be charged to the core starting from its second sequential lifetime. In other words, if the fuel for the first core is available, neither enrichment nor reprocessing are required further on. 

Fuel cycle option, basic - Closed fuel cycle (U, TRUs, and some fission products will be recovered from the spent fuel and recycled) an option of on-line refuelling is being considered U-Pu-Zr ternary fuel - For a start-up core, the fresh fuel is composed of recovered LWR transuranics and depleted uranium in subsequent cycles, where the discharged TRU become available for manufacturing new fuel feeds, the fissile make-up of a core load will be based on recycled Pu - Pyro-processing of metallic fuel will be apphed the fuel cycle facilities (fabrication and reprocessing) will be co-located with the reactor at the same site - Closed fuel cycle (U, Pu) - Flexibility in fuel oxide, nitride or metallic fuel options - Non-aqueous methods of fuel reprocessing... 

DU-Depleted Uranium RP-ReprocessIng Plant — Longterm Existing/ Short term... 

An on-site closed fuel cycle with only depleted uranium being consumed could be considered. In this cycle, spent fuel assemblies are reprocessed after cooling, the discharged fuel is mixed and separated from fission products with a specified grade of purification, and depleted uranium is added to provide the specified content of plutonium and MAs in the fresh fuel. The excess plutonium of RBEC-M could then be used in other reactors or for the deployment of new reactors of RBEC-M type. 

During the initial stages of development, it was assumed that the isotopic composition of plutonium in the fresh fuel would correspond to reactor-grade plutonium extracted from the cooled spent fuel of a typical light water reactor (e.g., from a 900 MW(e) PWR fuel irradiated up to a bum-up of 33 MW-d/kg U, reprocessed after 10 years of cooling) and loaded in the RBEC-M reactor in two years. The isotopic composition of uranium corresponds to depleted uranium with a content of 0.1 weight %... 

An adiabatic core (Arteoli et al., 2010) is a fuel cycle strategy able to convert an input feed of either natural or depleted uranium (NU or DU, respectively) into energy, with FP and actinide reprocessing losses as the only output stream. This allows the full closure of the fuel cycle within the reactor (thus the term adiabatic, because of its having no significant exchange with the environment) with transuranics remaining at equilibrium in the core, as shown in Table 6.3, which depicts the results of an analysis carried out for the ELSY reactor. 

One energy source that first appeared to be highly attractive was nuclear power. The problem with nuclear power is that some costs were hidden in its initial development. Especially pernicious is the disposal of uranium oxide fuel after it has become depleted. It can be reprocessed, but at considerable expense, and the product plutonium can be used for weapons. In the United States the plan is to bui y... 

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