HTGR Knowledge Base

Conference Article: HTGR spent fuels processing: The CEA investigation program, Michel Masson

Michel Masson, Stéphane Grandjean, Jerôme Lacquement, Jean-Claude Thieblemont, Jacques Lacombe, CEA ValRho Research Center, FRANCE

Abstract

Considering some of the criteria put forward by the Generation IV Forum to select future nuclear systems (Preservation of the resources, minimization of final waste impact, economy, …), the impetus for the Very High Temperature He cooled Reactor raise the question of the processing of the fuel in a context of a closed cycle with a recycling of actinides. Due to the very unique structure of the particle fuel used for this class of reactors, the difficulties consist essentially in the accessibility in the uranium kernels coated by layers of carbon and SiC and dispersed in a large volume of graphite. Starting from the past experience in that field, a research program has been recently launched at CEA to propose attractive solutions. The mechanical extraction of compacts from the blocks of spent fuel looks promising as well as the dismantling of the graphite of the compacts by pulsed currents to free the particles. Then, to access the kernels, the removal of carbon and silicium carbide layers by oxidation at high temperature or by carbochlorination of the layers is assessed. For the recycling of actinides, the manufacturing process of kernels by gelification seems adapted. The resent paper gives a brief overviews of the development currently underway at CEA.

view the full text of this article (9 pages, format: PDF, size= 223kB)

key words: HTGR, fuel processing, head-end processes
Reference:
Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, September, 22-24, 2004
International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)
HTR-2004, pp:1-9