Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing, Ned Xoubi, 2008

The Politics, Science & Environment of

Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing 3 decades Later
    Dr. Ned Xoubi

Ned Xoubi

Waste Management Presentation 2008

1

The Politics, Science, Environment, and common sense of

Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing 3 decades Later ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬ Dr. Ned Xoubi Commissioner for Nuclear Fuel Cycle Jordan Atomic Energy Commission

Symposium on the Technology of Peaceful Nuclear Energy October 14-16, 2008 ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

Irbid - Jordan

Reprocessing is a must, for any meaningful and permanent solution to SNF











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Nuclear power produce 20% of all U.S. electric power, economically, safely, and reliably, it does that without emitting harmful pollutants Producing this energy, nuclear power in the US generates approximately 2500 tons of spent nuclear fuel annually Spent nuclear fuel is classified as HLW Dealing with it, presents a wide range of social, political, economical, and technical issues For the last three decades SNF have been stored in temporarily storage pools in power plants across the country, the US current plans is to dispose of this fuel in Yucca Mountain repository

A meaningful and permanent solution to spent nuclear fuel requires reexamining our policy toward Reprocessing

The Politics April 7, 1977 , President Carter banned the reprocessing of commercial reactor spent nuclear fuel The key issue driving this policy:  The serious threat of nuclear weapons proliferation by diversion of plutonium from the civilian fuel cycle  Encourage other nations to follow its lead A weak argument with many holes, coming from a Nuclear Engineer !! ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

Proliferation is sought by desperate governments, that will try any possible route to get them  power reactor-grade plutonium is not the material of choice for making weapons  India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea, and now Iran This failed policy is hindering the development and advancement of nuclear power industry, and broadening the environmental, and economical problems of dealing with the spent fuel

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Weapon plutonium destruction capability of HTRs Vs LWRs

Relative plutonium isotope quantities

Weapon Pu

GT-MHR spent fuel option

LWR spent fuel option

1 00

100

1 00

90

90

90

80

80

80

70

70

70

Pu 239 60

60

60

Pu 240 50

50

40

40

40

30

30

30

20

20

20

10

10

10

0

0

0

50

Pu 241 Pu 242

1

N e t c o ns u m pt io n P u39: ~5 1 % T o ta l P u: ~2 7 %

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N e t c o ns um pt io n P u3 9 : 9 0 -9 5 % T o t a l P u : 6 5 -7 2 %

The Environmental Problem







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Since the dawn of time we as humans have been producing waste, and adversely effecting our environment The more advanced we became, the more complicated our waste became Nuclear waste is radioactive Very dangers and deadly effect on both humans and the environment if left unmanaged

SNF Activity and Volume

To Effectively Manage Radioactive Waste Reduce the Volume and Radioactivity of SNF ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

The Spent Nuclear Fuel Challenge






2,500 Mt of spent fuel is generated annually Temporarily stored on site at 130 sites cross the country SNF Pools are full

SNF (Mt)

SNF Cumulative Genration 80000 70000 60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Year

 Send it to the planned geologic repository  Yucca Mountain statutory limit of 63,000 Mt of spent fuel, will be reached by 2011  Thus the disposal SNF will continue to be a problem ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

The percentage constituents of Spent Nuclear Fuel  95.6% Uranium  3.0% Stable/Shortlived fission products  0.9% Plutonium  0.3% Cs / Strontium  0.1% Minor Actinides

 97% can be used to manufacture new nuclear fuel ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

 Resulting in dramatic reduction of HLW

SNF is a Resource  The present SNF inventory stored in commercial nuclear power plants, has  Approximately 500 tons of plutonium  Energy equivalent to more than 7 billion barrels of oil  Equivalent to $280 billion dollars This issue, therefore, has significant economic and energy security implications ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

Why Reprocess I.  II.

 III.  ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

Reduce Spent Fuel Volume to be disposed of as HLW about 3 % of the original fuel quantity remains as HLW Reclaim Spent Fuel’s Valuable Energy by recovering unused uranium and plutonium 97% of the spent fuel can be used again in manufacturing fresh fuel Conserve valuable and limited natural resources Saving about 30% of the natural uranium otherwise required

Who is Reprocessing

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What is Reprocessing         ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

After unloading, initial cooling for about 180 days Fuel is then shipped to a reprocessing plant Fuel rods are then chopped and dissolved in nitric acid Chemical separation of U & Pu The separated Pu is returned to fuel fabrication plant The separated U returned to conversion plant HLLW is stored in SS tanks inside concrete cells until they are solidified Waste is shipped to its final burial ground, like Yucca Mountain

Solidifying Liquid Waste  The main method is vitrification  Based on evaporation to a dry powder  Incorporation in borosilicate glass  Poured into small stainless steel canisters (40 cm in diameter, and 130 cm height)  The waste is then shipped to its final burial ground, like Yucca Mountain. ‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

Reprocessing Technologies








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Plutonium-Uranium EXtraction (PUREX) – Developed by the United States in the late 1940s. – Both uranium and plutonium are produced – Proliferation concerns – This is the most used reprocessing method in the world Uranium EXtraction (UREX) – Only uranium is separated – plutonium, TRU, and FP are extracted in a single stream from which TRU could be extracted for reuse in fuel UREX+ – Separate selected actinide and fission product isotopes from the UREX stream after the uranium has been extracted in a manner that minimizes waste – Plutonium and selected minor actinides are separated for use in preparing proliferation-resistant fuels.

Typical 1000 MWe plant       

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produces approximately 25000 kg/ Yr. of HLW Reduced to 700 kg after reprocessing After vitrification and packaging the waste will be contained in 5 tons of glass Packed in about twelve small canisters and occupying less than 4 cubic meters 230 kilograms of plutonium is separated in reprocessing This can be used in fresh MOX fuel Producing the same amount of electricity as 230,000 tons of oil, saving about 44 million dollars per year

Reprocessing in the USA







Since the 1940s the US has continued to reprocess fuel mostly at defense plants Over 250 plant-years of reprocessing experience West Valley, New York, with a reprocessing capacity of 300 ton/yr – The plant was operated successfully from 1966- 1972. Morris, Illinois, with a reprocessing capacity of 300 ton per year – The plant incorporating new technology that was tested

and proven on a pilot-scale, but failed to work successfully in the production plant.


Barnwell, South Carolina, with a reprocessing capacity of 1500 tons/yr – abounded after the 1977 decision to ban all commercial

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reprocessing

The advanced fuel cycle initiative (AFCI ) AFCI mission is to develop
Advanced
Safe
Cost Effective
Environmentally Friendly
Proliferation-Resistant Technologies to treat and transmute spent fuel in order to enable a transition
From the current once through nuclear fuel cycle
To a future sustainable, closed nuclear fuel cycle


‫الدكتور نضال الزعبي‬

Loading silos with canisters containing vitrified high-level waste in UK, Each disc on the floor covers a silo holding ten canisters

Reprocessing completes the fuel cycle Questions ?

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