Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, (SRNS), operators of the Savannah River National Laboratory, have begun a multi-year program to process aluminum-clad spent fuel currently stored at its facilities near Jackson, S.C.
The process includes a chemical step to separate the uranium from the spent nuclear fuel, which is made up of uranium, fission products and actinides (which includes synthetic plutonium), that is sent to the facility from domestic and foreign research reactors and held in wet storage at L Basin, which was modified to become the primary SRNS receiving facility in 1997.
The chemical process at SRNS H Canyon will down blend the material into low enriched uranium, a grade that makes it no longer viable for nuclear weapons. However, the end-product will be available for use in commercial power plants.
H Canyon is the nation's only large, remotely operated chemical separations plant. The plant's primary mission for years was to separate uranium from spent nuclear fuel. With L Basin near capacity, it has become necessary for the plant to begin processing again, SRNS Senior Technical Adviser Bill Clifton explained.
The facility is authorized to disposition of approximately 1,000 bundles of material test reactor spent fuel and up to 200 cores of high flux isotope reactor spent nuclear fuel “in accordance with the Amended Record of Decisions signed March 29, 2013,” said Allen Gunter, also a senior technical adviser.
Processing high flux isotope reactor spent fuel is expected to keep the facility busy for several years, SRNS said in a press release.
SRNS is a Fluor-led company whose members are Fluor Federal Services, Newport News Nuclear and Honeywell.