EBR-II spent-fuel treatment demonstration project

For ∼10 yr, Argonne National Laboratory was developing a fast reactor fuel cycle based on dry processing. When the U.S. fast reactor program was canceled in 1994, the fuel processing technology, called the electrometallurgical technique, was adapted for treating unstable spent nuclear fuel for disposal. While this technique, which involves electrorefining fuel in a molten salt bath, is being developed for several different fuel categories, its initial application is for sodium-bonded metallic spent fuel. In June 1996, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approved a radiation demonstration program in which 100 spent driver assemblies and 25 spent blanket assemblies from Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) will be treated for a 3-yr period. This demonstration will provide data that address issues in the National Research Council's evaluation 2 of the technology. The planned operations will neutralize the reactive component (elemental sodium) in the fuel and produce a low-enriched uranium product, a ceramic waste, and a metal waste. The fission products and transuranium elements, which accumulate in the electrorefining salt, will be stabilized in the glass-bonded ceramic waste form. The stainless steel cladding hulls, noble metal fission products, and insoluble residues from the process will be stabilized in a stainless steel/zirconium alloy. Upon completion of a successful demonstration and additional environmental evaluation, the current plans are to process the remainder of the DOE sodium-bonded fuel