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

• Published in: Progress in nuclear energy (New series) Vol. 143; no. C; p. 104037
• Main Authors: Fredrickson, Guy L., Patterson, Michael N., Vaden, DeeEarl, Galbreth, Gregory G., Yoo, Tae-Sic, Price, J.C., Flynn, Eric J., Searle, Ryan N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022; Elsevier BV; Elsevier
• Subjects: Breeder reactors; EBR-II; Electrometallurgical; Experimental breeder reactor II; Liquid metal cooled reactors; Nuclear fuels; Nuclear reactors; Pyroprocessing; Reactor design; Shutdowns; Sodium; Sodium cooled reactors; Spent fuel treatment; Uranium electrorefining; United States > US; Uranium electrorefining; Pyroprocessing; Experimental breeder reactor II; Electrometallurgical; EBR-II; Spent fuel treatment
• ISSN: 0149-1970; 1878-4224
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.104037

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.