Concepts for Implementing Fuel Debundling in a Recycling Scheme in the United States

Fuel debundling was initially proposed as a concept to reduce the cost and quantity of high-level radioactive waste disposal in a recycling scheme in the United States. It involves removing all stainless-steel, non-fuel components of a used fuel assembly, leaving only the used fuel rods to enter the recycling process. Benefits were also realized for nuclear material accounting and control (NMAC), because the issues of self-shielding and high radiation doses would be significantly reduced compared to a complete used fuel assembly. A team is investigating different NMAC concepts that meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations and non-destructive assay (NDA) technologies that can meet these requirements. The concepts have been narrowed down to an independent fuel debundling facility or a combined debundling and recycling facility that requires Category II facility regulations to be met. The results of this investigation will be presented for implementing fuel debundling in a recycling scheme in the United States.