Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant Research Articles

Hot Cell Preparation of Tesiing Materials

AbstractIt is important in nuclear waste repository development that testing be done with materials containing a radionuclide spectrum representative of actual wastes. To meet the need for such materials, the Materials Characterization Center (MCC) has prepared simulated high level waste (HLW) glasses with radionuclides representative of about 10-, 300-, and 1000-year-old waste. A quantity of well characterized spent fuel also has been acquired for the same purpose. Glasses containing 10- and 300-year-old wastes, and the spent fuel specimens, must be fabricated in a hot cell. Hot cell conditions (high radiation field, remote operation, and difficulty of repairs) require that procedures and equipment normally used in materials preparation out-of-cell be modified for hot cell applications.This paper discusses the fabrication of two glasses, and the preparation of test specimens of these glasses and spent fuel. One of the glasses is a 76–68 composition, which is fully loaded with actual commercial reactor fission product waste. The other glass contains simulated Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant waste, doped with different combinations of fission products and actinides. The spent fuel is a 10-year-old PWR material. Special techniques have been used to achieve high quality, well characterized testing materials, including specimens in the form of segments, wafers, cylinders, and powders of these materials.

Operability and Maintainability of the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant: A Key Issue

The results of a study sponsored by Bechtel National, Inc., and Electric Power Research Institute in which the operability and maintainability of the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant (BNFP) were assessed by a seven-man team of reprocessing experts are part of an on-site comprehensive review of the plant that was performed encompassing (a) flow sheets, (b) equipment specifications, (c) operating and maintenance procedures, (d) quality assurance procedures and practices, (e) cell-by-cell inspections, and (f) results of the “cold” test program conducted using “stand-in” uranium and plant solvent. The overall judgment of the review team was that the BNFP can be operated on a sustained basis at a capacity of ∼1200 tonne heavy metal/yr provided that modifications are made to certain systems and that the planned preoperational testing program is carried through to completion.

Transuranic waste from reprocessing of nuclear fuel

The annual volume of transuranic waste generated during the processing of spent nuclear fuel from light water reactors has been estimated using the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant as a model. Both completed facilities and the design of future additional facilities were evaluated to determine the volume of untreated solid waste. Interim on-site storage facilities for solid wastes are described and the fractions of wastes available for volume reduction are estimated.

Cooldown testing of nuclear fuel casks

Shipment of spent nuclear fuel from operating reactors is an important link in resolving the fuel storage and nuclear waste problems. Certain thermal problems must be considered. The nuclear spent fuel, even after a period of pool storage, has sufficient decay heat to necessitate special handling when being shipped to an off-site location. This paper presents the results of development related to the thermal interaction between dry spent fuel casks and nuclear fuel under operating situations. The tests were performed at the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant (BNFP) using full-sized truck and rail casks and electrically heated dummy fuel assemblies. The safe and practical operation of the equipment developed has been shown.

On-Line Radiation Monitoring at a Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant

The on-line and process radiation monitoring capability at the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant has been evaluated. Experiments have been performed to test the monitors’ capability to assay plant streams. Several of the monitors have been subjected to evaluation experiments in the laboratory to determine sensitivity, accuracy, reliability, and overall system performance. The incorporation of many of these monitors into a real-time or near-real-time material control system is under way. Many of the monitors have been tested for operability in situ and the results of these tests indicate satisfactory performance over the intended sensitivity ranges. An effort is under way to develop new nondestructive assay techniques for on-line monitoring of special nuclear materials present in the process streams of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.