Research and Test Reactors
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
IAEA-TECDOC-1080 Procedures techniquesand for the management of experimental fuels from research and test reactors Proceedings Advisoryan of Group meeting held in Vienna, 1-4 December 1997 April 1999 The IAEA does not normally maintain stocks of reports in this series. However, copies of these reports on microfiche or in electronic form can be obtained from I MIS Clearinghouse International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria E-mail: CHOUSE® IAEA.ORG URL: http://www.iaea.org/programmes/inis/inis.htm Orders shoul accompaniee db prepaymeny db Austriaf o t n Schillings 100,- in the form of a cheque or in the form of IAEA microfiche service coupons orderee whicb y hdma separately fro INIe mth S Clearinghouse. The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Nuclear Fuel Cycl Materiald ean s Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL FUELS FROM RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS IAEA, VIENNA, 1999 IAEA-TECDOC-1080 ISSN 1011-4289 ©IAEA, 1999 Printed by the IAEA in Austria April 1999 FOREWORD Almos l countrieal t s that have undertaken fuel development programme r powefo s r reactors, research reactors and military reactors have experimental and exotic fuels, either stored at the original research reactor where they were tested or at some away-from-reactor storage facility. These historic spent fuel liabilities cannot follow the standard treatment recognized for modern power reactor fuels. They include experimenta exotid lan c fuels ranging from liquido st coated spheren configurationi d an s s ranging from full test assemblie o post s t irradiation examination specimens set in resin. To obtai overaln na l pictur extenproblee e th th f f eo o t managinf mo g these fuels Advisorn a , y Group Meeting on Procedures and Techniques for the Management of Experimental and Exotic Fuels from Researc Tesd han t Reactor s conveneswa Viennan di 4 Decembe1- , r 1997. This document contains the proceedings of the meeting and an expert evaluation of the overall situation in countries which participated in the meeting. The IAEA wishes to thank all of the participants in the meeting for their contributions to this document. The IAEA officer responsible for the organization of the meeting and for the compilation of this document was I.G. Ritchie of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE preparingIn this publication press,for staff IAEAofthe have pages madethe up from originalthe manuscripts submittedas authors.the viewsby The expressed necessarilynot do reflect thosethe of IAEA, the governments of the nominating Member States or the nominating organizations. Throughout the text names of Member States are retained as they -were -when the text was compiled. Theof particularuse designations of countries territoriesor does imply judgementnot any the by publisher, legalthe IAEA,to statusthe as suchof countries territories,or theirof authoritiesand institutions delimitation ofthe or of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does imply intentionnot any infringeto proprietary rights, should construednor be it endorsementan as or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate materialuse or from sources already protected copyrights.by CONTENTS Summary of the Advisory Group meeting..................................................................................................... 1 Management of experimental and exotic fuels at SCK/CEN, Mol, Belgium............................................. 11 GubelP. Managemen experimentaf to exotid lan cAtomie fuelth y sb c Energ Canadf yo a Ltd..............................5 .1 J.R. Doyle Storage and management of spent fuels at research reactors at the China Institute of Atomic Energy ......................................................................................................23 Hemming Xu Procedures and techniques for the management of experimental and exotic fuel from research and test reactors in France .........................................................................................33 D. Raisonnier Treatment of spent fuels from research reactors and reactor development program Germann si y ...............................................................................................................................41 K.D. Class Storage and management of fuel from Fast Breeder Test Reactor and Kalpakkam MINI......................... 51 B.S. Sodhi, MS. Rao, R. Natarajan Managemen spenf to t nuclea State r fueth t ea l Scientific Cente Russiae th f ro n Federation— Institute for Physics and Power Engineering..........................................................................................63 V. V. Kuzin, V.M. Skorkin Treatmen fuelf to s from development programme researcd san h reactors in the United Kingdom............................................................................................................................73 P. Cartwright Overview of the US spent nuclear fuel program .........................................................................................79 W.L Hurt Lis Participants........................................................................................................................................8f to 7 SUMMARY OF THE ADVISORY GROUP MEETING 1. INTRODUCTION IAEA'e Th s programm safe th e n handlineo storagd gan f speneo t fuels from research and test reactors has been designed to collect, evaluate and disseminate information on the safe and reliable handling, management and storage, or preparation for shipment, of spent fuel from researc tesd han t reactors firsa s t A . ste thin pi s programme databasa , spenn o e t fuel from researc d tesan ht reactor s beeha s n compile s continualli d an d y maintained. This database contains information on spent fuel inventories, types of fuel stored, their enrichment, countr f originyo , dimensions, type f storageso concernd an owner/operators,e th f so e th f O . more than 56,000 fuel assemblie facilitie0 21 t whicr sa fo s h informatio bees nha n received, non-standarf o e ar abou % 18 td types. These pose special problem continuer sfo d safe storage eventuad an l final disposition. The IAEA held an Advisory Group Meeting (AGM) on the Management and Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel from Researc Tesd han t Reactors Viennn i , aNovembe4 froo t m1 r 1994 which dealt exclusively with standard fuel types (IAEA-TECDOC-900). Also, a Workshop/Technical Committee Meeting on Procedures for the Safe Management and Storage Failef o d Fuels from Researc Tesd han t Reactor hels Budapesn sdwa i Octobe1 3 t o frot 9 mr2 1996, which dealt exclusively with failed standard fuel types. At these meetings, experts from facilities all over the world frequently mentioned the fact that there were other fuels, usually of an experimental nature and in various quantities, stored at their facilities which posed special problems. These had not been addressed adequately in any of the previous IAEA programmes. To address this issue, an AGM on Procedures and Techniques for the Management of Experimenta Exotid an l c Fuel s convenewa s dDecembe4 froo t m1 r 199 Viennan 7i . Nine nominated experts and one observer attended the meeting from nine countries. This report comprises their expert evaluation of the overall situation in the countries they represent and a summar theif yo r deliberations, conclusion recommendationsd san . 2 DEFINITIO EXPERIMENTAF NO L FUELS purposee th r thif Fo so s meeting, experimental fuel definee ar s materials da s containing fissile atoms that have been used in experiments to develop nuclear fuel and materials that are longeo n r fully containe whosr do e containmen suspects ti . Example experimentaf so l fuels are: 1. Non-standard oxides Enrichment suraniur abovfo r abov% d fo em5 an % e6 plutonium. This fuel type also includes the U/Pu fuel. 2. Graphite matrix fuels Fissile materials incorporate graphitn di foro et e mth main driver fuel. This includes AVR, THTR, For. St t Vrai Dragod nan n type fuels. 3. Metal alloys Uranium and plutonium alloys including those stabilize. Zr additived y db an b N , s sucMo s ha 4. Thorium The full scope of the thorium fuel cycle is included. Fuels include U/TPu/Thd an h . 5. Carbides/Nitrides Generally fuels from fast reactor developmenty ma t ,bu eventually includ high-densitR eMT y fuels. 6. 233U From tests on materials recovered from the Th fuel cycle. 7. Na-bonded Metallic fuel types fro fase mth t reactor development programme. 8. Failed fuels Fuels that have failed in reactor or in storage. 9. Specimens Post-irradiation examination (PIE) specimens mounted in resins, includin remnantsE PI y gan . 3. SCOPE OF PROBLEM During more than forty years of operation of research and test reactors, there have been a large number of fuel types and fuel designs which have been irradiated. Similar programmes have been undertaken in many countries, resulting in small amounts of spent fuel that cannot be considere s standardda addition I . thio nt s material somn i , e cases methoe th , f storagdo f eo standard fuel resultes ha s fuen di l failure creating additional problem finar sfo l dispositione Th . types of fuel identified by the participating experts are listed in Tables I-EI. These tables also show which of the participating