Supplementary birch production

Abstract

In response to specific requests of the AEC and as part of a Combined Operations over-all review, a number of engineering studies have been made of alternative methods for increasing availabiltiy of neptunium at Hanford. The report updates an earlier study in which recycling of both natural and enriched uranium was considered for Hanford. The earlier study showed that recycled natural uranium would provide appreciable gains in neptunium availability but at an excessive cost. Recycle of the slightly enriched uranium streams proved a more economical means of realizing smaller but still significant gains in neptunium production. Subsequent to the earlier report, a feasible and immediately applicable scheme for UFI blending has been conceived demonstrating further advantages for recycling the enriched uranium. Approximately 34 kilograins of supplementary neptunium could be produced at Hanford during the next seven to eight years by upgrading irradiated E-metal and NPR uranium through a blending operation at Oak Ridge (rather than in the diffusion cascades) and then recycling the material through the Hanford reactors. (cf Table 1) Such a scheme would conserve uranium-236 for use as a source of neptunium-237 in the reactors without incurring major capital costs. Oak Ridge Operations personnel have estimated that capital more » needs for the requisite UF{sub 6} blending operation would not exceed $50,000 (Ref. 6). The program would not require extensive development efforts to demonstrate technical feasibility and would not interfere appreciably with normal fuel cycle operations. Production-scale recycling of E-metal could thus start immediately. « less