History and status of spent fuel treatment at the INL Fuel Conditioning Facility

Guy L. Fredrickson, Michael N. Patterson, Dee Earl Vaden, Gregory G. Galbreth, Tae Sic Yoo, J. C. Price, Eric J. Flynn, Ryan N. Searle

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) operated from 1964 to 1994 as one of the first sodium-cooled fast reactors to use sodium-bonded metallic driver fuels and blankets. EBR-II was a testbed for fuel development and reactor design principles. Following shutdown, it was decided to use electrometallurgical methods to treat the spent fuel and blanket materials for final disposition. This paper provides a brief history of U.S. liquid metal cooled reactor development with emphasis on EBR-II, and a technical description of the electrometallurgical methods.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104037
JournalProgress in Nuclear Energy
Volume143
Early online dateNov 29 2021
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2022

Keywords

  • EBR-II
  • Electrometallurgical
  • Experimental breeder reactor II
  • Pyroprocessing
  • Spent fuel treatment
  • Uranium electrorefining

INL Publication Number

  • INL/JOU-21-62982
  • 82748

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