Development, design, and preliminary operation of a resin-feed processing facility for resin-based HTGR fuels

Fuel kernels for recycle of 233U to High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors are prepared by loading carboxylic acid cation exchange resins with uranium and carbonizing at controlled conditions. Resin-feed processing was developed and a facility was designed, installed, and operated to control the kernel size, shape, and composition by processing the resin before adding uranium. The starting materials are commercial cation exchange resins in the sodium form. The size separations are made by vibratory screening of resin slurries in water. After drying in a fluidized bed, the nonspherical particles are separated from spherical particles on vibratory plates of special design. The sized, shape-separated spheres are then rewetted and converted to the hydrogen form. The processing capacity of the equipment tested is equivalent to about 1 kg of uranium per hour and could meet commercial recycle plant requirements without scale-up of the principal process components