An estimation method for near real-time accountancy of partitioned materials during chopper operations of used metallic nuclear fuel processing

During the electrometallurgical pyroprocessing of used metallic nuclear fuel, the chopper operation cuts the fuel element into segments and distributes these segments between the anode basket and plenum can. This paper discusses a method of systematically assessing the mass balance of partitioned materials between the anode basket and plenum can. The proposed method fully accommodates the mass closeout measurements from the chopper operation and automates the assessment of chopper-induced material partitioning. With a set of reasonable assumptions, the proposed approach allows a formal uncertainty analysis on the partitioned masses as well. An illustrative calculation example adopted from the ongoing fissium fuel processing campaign is given.