Design of process cell equipment layout and its associated piping in typical nuclear fuel reprocessing plant

Nuclear fuel reprocessing plant processes spent nuclear fuel discharged from the nuclear reactor to separate chemically the uranium and plutonium. Spent nuclear fuel emits radiation due to the presence of fission products, actinides and activation products. The major operation steps in reprocessing plant are dismantling of spent fuel subassemblies, chopping of fuel pins and dissolution in concentrated nitric acid. Subsequently, this solution containing uranium and plutonium, fission products and actinides is subjected to solvent extraction with tributyl phosphate in diluent as solvent for separating uranium and plutonium from fission products and other actinides. In the design of a fuel reprocessing plant, apart from problems associated with conventional chemical process industries such as corrosion, materials handling, industrial and fire safety and economy, specific considerations such as health hazards from radioactivity (radiological safety) and damage to material by radiation are considered. This necessitates the processing of spent fuel inside the shielded process cells (concrete and lead cells) with remote operation and maintenance philosophy to prevent the contamination as well as radiation exposure to the operators and prevention of criticality in process tanks and equipments. Reprocessing plant consists of number of shielded process cells depending on the processing capacity and type of spent fuel handled. Concrete cells and lead cells houses various type of storage tanks, equipments, liquid transfer devices, etc with interconnecting small bore pipe lines for liquid transfer and supply of services, which runs in multiple layers, forming a high density piping inside the cells. In addition to this, cells have remote handling systems and gadgets for remote operation and maintenance wherever required. This paper highlights the design of process cells, its equipment layout and piping in typical reprocessing plant; the suitable material of construction, stringent fabrication procedures to provide the intended design life, remote operation and maintenance philosophy, shielding and criticality safety, redundancy, provision for in-service inspections, remote operation and maintenance free liquid transfer systems, remote monitoring of process parameters, ventilation system for dynamic containment of radioactivity and decontamination systems. This paper gives the salient features of 3D modeling of high density piping in the process cells. (author)