Comparative Cost Study of the Processing of Oxide, Carbide, and Metal Fast- Breeder-Reactor Fuels by Aqueous, Volatility, and Pyrochemical Methods

Abstract

This rep ort was prep ared as an acc oun t of Gov ernr ent Bpo nso red wor k. Neit her the Unit ed f Stat es, nor the Com miss ion, nor any perso n ac Ung o beha lf of the Com miss ion:

A Conceptual Design Study of a Fluoride-Volatility Plant for Reprocessing LMFBR Fuels.

“…Distillation may readily be performed continuously. Such gas-liquid absorber units can take many forms, but these possibilities are cited here only as 15,147,148 background to general design considerations.…”

Fuel Properties and Nuclear Performance of Fast Reactors Fueled with Molten Chlorides

“…Pyrochemical reprocessing, which appears to be the least expensive method for metallic fuels and is competitive for all solid fuels 33 would probably be even less expensive for chloride fuel. In a promising pyrochemical process for solid fuels (oxide, carbide, or metal) the fuels are first declad (mechanically or chemically) and then dissolved in chloride salts by chlorination to form salt solutions similar to the chloride fuels of this study.…”

“…This was concluded from the cost breakdown for the fuel cycles for 1000-MWe reactors [1][2][3][4]31,33 and an approximate cost evaluation of the technical advantages for a chloride fuel cycle.…”