• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권9호
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• pp.2025-2033
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• 2020

Signature-based safeguards (SBS) is being developed to assist tradition nuclear material accountancy methods in tracking material in pyroprocessing facilities. SBS involves identifying off-normal scenarios that would result in improper movement of material in a pyroprocessing facilities and determining associated sensor response signatures. SBS investigations are undertaken in the computational space utilizing an electrochemical transport code known as enhanced REFIN with anodic dissolution (ERAD) to calculate the affect of off-normal conditions in the electrorefiner (ER) on material movement. Work is undertaken to experimentally validate the predictions and assumptions made by ERAD for off-normal occurrences. These experiments were undertaken on a benchtop scale and involved operating an electrochemical cell at 10 separate current densities for constant current operations to deposit U and Gd at a W cathode. These experiments were then modeled using ERAD to compare calculated predictions versus analytical experimental results it was found. It was discovered both the experimental and calculated results reflect a trend of increased codeposition of U and Gd with increasing current density. ERAD was thus demonstrated to be useful for predicting trends from anomalous operation but will require further optimization to be utilized as a quantitative design tool.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.113-118
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• 2020

An options study was performed for the treatment of residual elemental sodium in driver plenums following the chopping operation during the pyroprocessing of used nuclear fuel. Given the pending availability of a multi-function furnace for distillation and consolidation operations in the Fuel Conditioning Facility, the furnace was considered for the processing of driver plenums. Although two options (oxidation and distillation) could be performed in the multi-function furnace, neither option has been developed sufficiently to date to warrant the use of the furnace for treatment operations. Thus, it was decided to defer the treatment of elemental sodium from driver plenums in the multi-function furnace until more developed technologies and/or furnaces become available. In the interim, storage of the plenums and characterization efforts are recommended.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.131-144
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• 2010

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing pyroprocessing technology for recycling useful resources from spent fuel since 1997. The process includes pretreatment, electroreduction, electrorefining, electrowinning, and a waste salt treatment system. This paper briefly addresses unit processes and related innovative technologies. As for the electroreduction step, a stainless steel mesh basket was applied for adaption of granules of uranium oxide. This basket was designed for ready handling and transfer of feed material. A graphite cathode was used for the continuous collection of uranium dendrite in the electrorefining system. This enhances the throughput of the electrorefiner. A particular mesh type stirrer was designed to inhibit uranium spill-over at the liquid Cd crucible. A residual actinide recovery system was also tested to recover TRU tracer. In order to reduce the waste volume, a crystallization method is employed for Cs and Sr removal. Experiments on the unit processes were tested successfully, and based on the results, engineering-scale equipment has been designed for the PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권7호
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• pp.581-592
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• 2008

In this study, a conceptual pyroprocess flowsheet has been devised by combining several dry-type unit processes; its applicability as an alternative fuel cycle technology was analyzed. A key point in the evaluation of its applicability to the fuel cycle was the recovery yield of fissile materials from spent fuels as well as the proliferation resistance of the process. The recovery yields of uranium and transuranic elements (TRU) were obtained from a material balance for every unit process composing the whole pyroprocess. The material balances for several elemental groups of interest such as uranium, TRU, rare earth, gaseous fission products, and heat generating elements were calculated on the basis of the knowledge base that is available from domestic and foreign experimental results or technical information presented in open literature. The calculated result of the material balance revealed that uranium and TRU could be recovered at 98.0% and 97.0%, respectively, from a typical PWR spent fuel. Furthermore, the anticipated TRU product was found to emit a non-negligible level of $\gamma$-ray and a significantly higher level of neutrons compared to that of a typical plutonium product obtained from the PUREX process. The results indicate that the product from this conceptual pyroprocessing should be handled in a shielded cell and that this will contribute favorably to retaining proliferation resistance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권8호
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• pp.1727-1732
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• 2017

Pyroprocessing is an alternative method of reprocessing spent fuel, usually involving the dissolving spent fuel in a molten salt media. The National Nuclear Laboratory designed, built, and commissioned a molten salt dynamics rig to investigate the transfer characteristics of molten lithium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic salt. The efficacy and flow characteristics of a high-temperature centrifugal pump and argon gas lift were obtained for pumping the molten salt at temperatures up to $500^{\circ}C$. The rig design proved suitable on an industrial scale and transfer methods appropriate for use in future molten salt systems. Corrosion within the rig was managed, and melting techniques were optimized to reduce stresses on the rig. The results obtained improve the understanding of molten salt transport dynamics, materials, and engineering design issues and support the industrialization of molten salts pyroprocessing.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.1022-1028
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• 2020

One of the possible options for spent-fuel management in Korea is pyroprocessing, which is a process for electrochemical recycling of spent nuclear fuel. Nuclear material accountancy is considered to be a safeguards measure of fundamental importance, for the purposes of which, the amount of nuclear material in the input and output materials should be measured as accurately as possible by means of chemical analysis and/or non-destructive assay. In the present study, a neutron measurement system based on the fast-neutron energy multiplication (FNEM) and passive neutron albedo reactivity (PNAR) techniques was designed for nuclear material accountancy of a spent-fuel assembly (i.e., the input accountancy of a pyroprocessing facility). Various parameters including inter-detector distance, source-to-detector distance, neutron-reflector material, the structure of a cadmium sleeve around the close detectors, and an air cavity in the moderator were investigated by MCNP6 Monte Carlo simulations in order to maximize its performance. Then, the detector responses with the optimized geometry were estimated for the fresh-fuel assemblies with different ²³⁵U enrichments and a spent-fuel assembly. It was found that the measurement technique investigated here has the potential to measure changes in neutron multiplication and, in turn, amount of fissile material.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.644-652
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• 2022

During the pyroprocessing operation, various signals can be collected by process monitoring (PM). These signals are utilized to diagnose process states. In this study, feasibility of using PM for nuclear safeguards of electrorefining operation was examined based on the use of machine learning for detecting off-normal operations. The off-normal operation, in this study, is defined as co-deposition of key elements through reduction on cathode. The monitored process signal selected for PM was cathode potential. The necessary data were produced through electrodeposition experiments in a laboratory molten salt system. Model-based cathodic surface area data were also generated and used to support model development. Computer models for classification were developed using a series of recurrent neural network architectures. The concept of transfer learning was also employed by combining pre-training and fine-tuning to minimize data requirement for training. The resulting models were found to classify the normal and the off-normal operation states with a 95% accuracy. With the availability of more process data, the approach is expected to have higher reliability.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.261-267
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• 2010

고온 야금 핵연료 재활용 공정이라고 불리는 파이로 프로세싱은 전망 있는 핵연료 재활용 기술로써 잘 알려져 왔다. 파이로 프로세싱은 증가된 핵확산저항성과 경제적 효율 때문에 미래 원자력 시스템에 있어서 중요하다. 파이로 프로세싱의 기본적인 개념은 핵확산저항성을 향상시키는 악티나이드 그룹의 회수로 볼 수 있다. 파이로 프로세싱에서 중요한 공정 중 하나인 전해제련공정은 사용후핵연료로부터 우라늄과 악타나이드를 같이 회수하는 공정이다. 본 연구에서는 수직형 카드뮴 증류장치를 제작하였다. 773~923K, 0.01torr 이하의 압력조건에서 카드뮴의 증류속도는 $12.3{\sim}40.8g/cm^2-h$를 나타내었다. 고순도 아르곤 분위기의 글러브 박스에서 LCC 전해법으로 우라늄-카드뮴 합금을 제작하였다. 순수한 카드뮴과 우라늄-카드뮴 합금중의 카드뮴 증류거동을 조사하였다. 본 연구에서 얻을 수 있었던 카드뮴 증류거동 연구결과를 카드뮴 증류 공정의 개발에 이용할 수 있을 것이다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제51권6호
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• pp.700-708
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• 2013

파이로 공정은 고속로와의 연계성과 핵확산 저항성 등의 장점으로 최근 사용후핵연료 관리 이슈 해결과 유용자원 재활용 제고의 목적으로 개발되고 있다. 파이로 공정은 전체적으로 습식과정을 배제하고 고온에서 진행되는 건식 기술들에 바탕을 두고 있다. 전기화학적 이론에 기초한 파이로 공정은 전처리 공정이 필요하며 고온 휘발산화 공정이 전해환원 공정의 전처리 공정으로 개발되고 있다. 다양한 기체 조건들이 고온 휘발산화 공정에 적용가능하며 이 과정에서 Cs의 거동의 이해는 전체 파이로 공정에서 폐기물 특성과 열부하 해석을 위해 중요한 요소이다. 본 연구에서는 Cs-Te-O 시스템에 대해 반응 평형을 기준으로 기체-고체 반응 거동을 해석함으로서 기체조건에 따른 화학성분들의 변화를 계산하였다. $Cs_2TeO_3$와 $Cs_2TeO_4$에 대해 Tpp 도표를 통해 화합물을 선정하였으며 산화분위기에서는 상대적으로 안정적임을 확인하였으며 고온 환원 분위기에서는 Cs와 Te가 모두 휘발 제거될 수 있음을 보였다. 본 연구는 파이로 공정의 첫 화학적 분배가 발생되는 휘발산화 공정에서 Cs 거동을 예측할 수 있는 기초 자료를 제공하였으며 전체 공정의 물질수지 등에 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2011년도 추계학술논문요약집
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• pp.503-504
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• 2011