Technical Review of the Characteristics of Spent Nuclear Fuel Scrap

Kuhn, W.L.; Abrefah, J.; Pitner, A.L.; Plys, M.G.; Sloughter, J.P.; Wiborg, James C.; Damschen, Dennis W.

doi:10.2172/15001305

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They ranged in small sizes, i.e., less than a micron, to pieces of fuel. The general characteristics of the particulates and surface areas have been analyzed and reported by Kuhn et al (2001). The fuel particulates, in particular, are similar to the crumbled products generated during oxidation of corroded sample pieces in the laboratory and reported by Abrefah and Sell (1999).…”

Section: Snf Crumbling Effectmentioning

confidence: 61%

Reactive Behavior of K-Basin Spent Nuclear Fuel

Abrefah¹,

Siciliano²,

Damschen³

et al. 2002

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ph: (865) 576-8401 fax: (865) 576-5728 email: reports@adonis.osti.gov Available to the public from the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161 ph: (800) 553-6847 fax: (703) 605-6900 email: orders@ntis.fedworld.gov online ordering: http://www.ntis.gov/ordering.htmThis document was printed on recycled paper. SummaryThe Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel Project focuses its efforts on determining how to safely move the degraded N-Reactor spent fuel from water-stored basins to a dry storage facility. As part of this effort, the project initiated experimental studies to address issues relating to the chemical reactivity of the degraded/corroded metallic uranium material. The studies generated a limited set of data on chemical reaction rates of the N-Reactor spent fuel in dry-air, moist-air, and moist-inert atmospheres for comparison with published data on unirradiated/irradiated metallic uranium. Based on the laboratory data, the project chose to use a conservative enhancement factor in analyzing the oxidation behavior of the spent metallic fuel. However, there is a need for the project to increase the fuel throughput for the drying-treatment process by implementing certain design optimization steps. The study discussed in this paper re-evaluated the previous laboratory data in conjunction with the cold vacuum drying (CVD) process experience and determined whether the built-in level of conservatism could accommodate the potential changes in the process without compromising public and worker safety.Evaluations based on laboratory data on samples taken from the corroded N-Reactor spent fuel showed no reactivity enhancement for the degraded metallic uranium in moist atmospheres. The established oxidation reaction-rate constant was used to accurately determine the reactive surface areas of corroded N-Reactor fuel elements. The surface areas calculated for six different N-Reactor elements that were stored in the K-West Basin and shipped to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for drying studies ranges from as low as 0.0018 m 2 for a broken element to 8.1 m 2 for a highly corroded spent nuclear fuel (SNF) element 5744U based on the measured reaction-rate constant for the K-Basin SNF (k SNF ). On the other hand, if the literature-averaged rate constant (k Lit ) is used, the calculated areas are between 0.0002 and 1.1 m 2 .

show abstract

Section: Snf Crumbling Effectmentioning

confidence: 61%