R&D for Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle at IGCAR
P.R.Vasudeva RaoDirector
Chemistry, Metallurgy and Materials Groups
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic ResearchKalpakkam, India
Asian nuclear prospect 2008
Strategies for Fuel Cycle Strategies for Fuel Cycle
Fuel cycle facilities to cater to two or more reactors: economy of scale
Enhanced burn-up (200,000 MWd/t) : lower quantities of fuel to be processed per MW of electricity
Minimum cooling time, matching fuel handling intervals of reactor: reduced out-of-pile inventory, better utilisation of valuable fissile material
Reduced waste production through optimisation of flow sheets for fabrication and reprocessing
Recovery of minor actinides and “valuable” fission products: reduced waste volume, with added societal benefits
Uranium Plutonium Carbide Fuel for FBTRMark I Fuel: (U0.3, Pu0.7)CMark II Fuel: U0.45Pu0.55C
The Mark I fuel has reached 155 GWd/t burn-up without any fuel pin failure
Carbide Fuel Cycle of FBTR
Fuel fabricated at BARC
Comprehensive Post-Irradiation Examination was carried out at various burn-up values to understand the fuel behaviour and obtain safety clearances for enhancing burn-up
Fuel discharged from FBTR with burn-up up to 150 GWd/t has been reprocessed, for closing the fuel cycle
Thermal conductivity
Laser VaporisationMass spectrometry
Capacity to develop, ab-initio, new fuel concepts and closing the fuel cycle with benchmark performance indices
R & D on Carbide Fuel CycleThermophysical properties of high Pu content
fuel (first measurements)• Thermal conductivity, Carbon potential
Thermochemical Modeling: • Oxygen limit to reduce Pu volatility during
fabrication • Carbon potential, Pu segregation, CO pressure
Post-irradiation examination in inert atmosphere hot cells: destructive and non-destructive
Reprocessing flow sheet: dissolution behaviour, third phase formation
PIE Facilities for Performance Assessment of FBTR Fuel
REMOTE METALLOGRAPHY
U 233 FUELLED REACTOR FOR N-RADIOGRAPHY
LASER DISMANTLING OF IRRADIATED FSA
METROLOGY & NDT EQUIPMENTS
SMALL SPECIMEN TEST EQUIPMENT (BI)
HOT CELL FACILITY (INERT ATMOSPHERE)
REMOTE CNC MACHINE
FISSION GAS EXTRACTION & ANALYSIS
HIGH TEMPERATURE REMOTE TENSILE TEST MACHINE
Comprehensive R & D in Fast reactor Fuel Reprocessing Comprehensive R & D in Fast reactor Fuel Reprocessing
Extractants for fuel reprocessing
Extractants for MA recovery
Extractants / resins for recovery of valuable fission products
Development of novel contactors, pumps and metering equipment
Extensive use of Modeling and Simulation for extraction processes and equipment performance
Materials development for longer for Purex process plant life
Fast reactor Fuel Reprocessing : Extractants
Extractants for Purex processHigher homologues of Tributyl Phosphate (like Tri-iso-Amyl Phosphate)Long chain dialkyl amides (DOHA etc.)
Extractants for MA recoveryCMPOAmides
Extractants / resins for recovery of selected fission products
16-stage ejector mixer-settler for flow sheet
development
Alternate Trialkyl phosphates for fast reactor fuel reprocessing
• A variety of trialkylphosphates synthesised and comprehensively characterised ( extraction behaviour, radiation and chemical degradation)
• Bulk synthesis of Tri-n-amyl phosphate
• Mixer settler runs under progress
O
O
O
O
O
RO- Group
O
O
O
O
RO- Group
Triamyl phosphate: a candidate for fast reactor fuel reprocessing
Room temperature ionic liquids for actinide and fission product recovery
• Exploiting unique properties of RTILs to reduce waste generation (Ex-El process)
• Use of RTILs in place of high temperature molten salts for electrorefining of metal fuels
• Use of RTILs for treatment of waste- eg. Recovery from waste
SIMPSEX (SIMulation Program for Solvent EXtraction) : nuclear SX of U, Pu and Nitric acid in FBR fuel reprocessing flowsheets.
PUThEX : Uranium separation from Th
SIMPACTR: Code for simulation of actinide recovery.
SIMPUREXAE: Code for PUREX process with Alternate Extractant
Extensive validation of Computer Codes by from experimental data in the literature
Solvent Extraction Modeling
Strip 1 (0.01 N Acid),
Base Flow
Strip 2 (4N Acid),Base Flow
Max
imum
PuC
onc.
g/L
Variation of Max. Pu Concentration
in the HC contactor
Waste Management
• Simplification of process routes for reducing waste volumes
• Development of processes for recovery of minor actinides and fission products (eg. Pd, Cs) from HLW
• Use of “green” processes such as SFE for waste treatment
• Development of glass and ceramic matrices for immobilisation
Partitioning of actinides from HLWSynthesis and characterisation of CMPO & DMDOHEMA:
• Purification method developed for CMPO• Bulk synthesis achieved• Extraction studies & Third phase formation studies
carried out• Mixer settler experiments with CMPO and TODGA in
process• Experiments with HLW from FBTR fuel reprocessing
by Jan 2009
Separation of An and Ln:
• 1,6-Bis triazynyl pyridine syntheised and characterised• Chromatographic studies on Am/Ln separations in
process
Recovery of Pu
SFE Facility in Glove Box
Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE)
.
0 15 30 45 60 75 900
20
40
60
80
100
PuR
ecov
ery
(%)
Extraction Period (min)
Pu(III)
SC-CO2+CMPO for extrn.
Lab scale SFE facility established in glove boxLab scale SFE facility established in glove box
Quantitative extraction of Quantitative extraction of U,PuU,Pu and Am from and Am from
tissue waste demonstratedtissue waste demonstrated
Extraction of silicone oil from fuel Extraction of silicone oil from fuel microspheresmicrospheres
(produced in sol(produced in sol--gel process) establishedgel process) established
SolventSolvent--free route developed for SFE using solid free route developed for SFE using solid
extractantsextractants
Recovery of residual actinides and fission productsRecovery of residual actinides and fission products
from salt waste of from salt waste of pyrochemicalpyrochemical processprocess
Iron Phosphate Glass for Fast Reactor Waste
• High loading (20 wt %) of waste demonstrated using simulated HLW
• Low volatility of Cesium • Low leaching rate• “Difficult” elements such as Pd don’t
segregate• Conditions for glass formation &
physical properties of glass : better than BSG
1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0 7 0 8 0
I P F W
F ig . 1 X R D p a t t e r n o f t h e I P G a n d I P F W
I P G
Arb.
uni
ts
2 Θ
4 0 0 6 0 0 8 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 4 0 0
- 2 5
- 2 0
- 1 5
- 1 0
- 5
0
5
1 0
I P F W
∆ T
(µV
)
T / K8 5
9 0
9 5
1 0 0
D T A T G A
m e l t in gt e m p e r a t u r e
C r y s t a l l i s a t i o n t e m p e r a t u r e
T g
F ig . 2 T G A / D T A c u r v e o f I P G a n d I P F W
0 50 100 150 200 25099.2
99.4
99.6
99.8
100.0
Fig. 8 Weight (%) of the IP5C5 glass as a function of time (min.)
Wei
ght (
%)
time / min
Cans with simulated synroc after hot isostaticpressing
High level waste immobilisation
Ceramic waste matrices development- 100g size monoliths fabricated and characterised
Studies show that Synroc C is efficient for immobilisinghigh level waste
Bulk synthesis (kg) & fabrication of Synroc monoliths containing simulated HLW expected from FBTR under progress
Palladium recovery from HLW
• Polyvinyl pyridine based resin developed indigenously
• Palladium quantitatively extracted from nitric acid medium
• RTIL based extraction-electrodeposition process
Studies also under progress for recovery of Cs and Sr from waste
# Facility for fabrication of test fuel pins through sol-gel / sphere-pac route
# First test pins of MOX fuel to be introduced in FBTR in Dec. 2008
# Sphere-pac pin with two fractions, (770 µm MOX microspheres and 115 µm UO2 microspheres)
# Coarse fraction fabricated using silicone oil column; Fine fraction fabricated by jet entrainment method
# Test pins with minor actinides will be fabricated for irradiation in FBTR
Sol-gel Vibrocompaction
Vibrocompaction and welding set up of the test fuel pin fabrication facility
Microsphere filling & vibrocompaction station
Hardware loading stationWelding station
Metallic FuelMetallic Fuel
1.Fuel Fabrication including sodium bonding
2. Studies on fuel properties
3. Fuel Reprocessing by pyrochemical routes
4. Irradiation programme including recycled fuels
5. Development of technologyfor waste arising out ofpyrochemical processes
Areas of R & D
# Development of sodium bonded , injection cast, U Pu-6 %Zr ternary alloy
# Development of Mechanically bonded, U-Pu binary alloy fuel, clad with and without coating
# Measurement of thermophysicalproperties, (Cp, K)
# Test fuel pin irradiations from FBTR –2009
# Facility for fabrication of metal fuel pins on a regular basis for FBTR
# Design of fuel initiated at IGCAR
Metallic fuel Development
R & D for R & D for PyrochemicalPyrochemical ReprocessingReprocessingMolten salt electrorefining: modeling as well as experimentation being pursued
Development of corrosion resistant materials and coatings
Equipment development (electrorefiner, consolidation system..)
Molten salt loops for long term corrosion studies on materials
Studies on room temperature ionic liquids as alternates for molten salts
-1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0.0 0.4
-50.0
-25.0
0.0
25.0
50.0
Zr2+/Zr
Ia2
Zr/Zr2+
798 K
Ic2
Curr
ent (
mA)
Potential (V) vs Ag(I)/Ag
Cyclic Voltammograms of Zr ions in LiCl-KCl at 798 K, in presence of Zrmetal, show only Zr2+ ions ; Zr4+
ions are absent
Unexposed 1000 hrs
Partially stabilised Zirconiacoatings on steel after 1000 h exposure to salt
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
XRD of glass-bonded sodalitewasteform
THANK YOU
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Alfred Nobel: born Oct. 21, 1833