This is the first time I have seen this said in print, that they will also build an advanced recycling center at Sellarfield in the UK if Ge-Hitachi's PRISM reactor gets the nod? And I believe this is what will also happen in the US.
"The station would also incorporate an advanced recycling centre using a novel electro-metallurgical separation process. It would extract uranium, plutonium and all other transuranic elements from used fuel elements produced by other UK nuclear plants and prepare the residuals for deep geological disposal. One benefit of this is that extracting and recycling transuranics (elements heavier than uranium) from the used fuel cuts the radiotoxic lifetime of the waste from 300,000 years to 300 years."
You will also see in this article "In August 2013, the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority discussed options for dealing with its stockpile. It concluded that “the reuse of plutonium as MOX (mixed oxide) fuel is the best available option to manage the UK’s plutonium”.
That particular statement is now obsolete, because it has been decided that MOX is not the best option at all, there are now two other options on the table, which are ahead of MOX in my opinion? they are Candu reactor and Prism reactor, the only one that comes with an advanced recycling center is PRISM, you will notice they said "One benefit of this is that extracting and recycling transuranics (elements heavier than uranium) from the used fuel"
That's right "extract" first at the advanced recycling center using a chemical process to extract the Plutonium and also the used Uranium which has transuranics mixed in with it.
You would then need to "recycle" the used Uranium.
In order to use the used Uranium, it would require either one of two things to happen, either re enrich the Uranium to a higher degree, this would overcome the effects of the transuranics effects on the enriched Uranium to allow it to be burnt as fuel, OR remove the Transuranics from the used Uranium?
Or you could just build a Candu Nuclear reactor, to use the recycled Uranium without modifying, because a Candu reactor requires fuel that hasn't been enriched, but I can't see them doing that somehow, because that would not be as efficient in my opinion?
The latter of those two options RECYCLING, seems to be what they want to happen, going byw what they said in the article "One benefit of this is that extracting and recycling transuranics (elements heavier than uranium) from the used fuel"
That RECYCLING would require some very special method to do that and one that was safe for the workers, my bet is the use of a modified Uranium enrichment plant using the Silex system, one that has been specially designed just for this purpose, one designed by the DoE in the US in my opinion
Prism Reactor Can Solve UK’s Plutonium Problem, Says GE-Hitachi in Energy News, UK Nuclear News / by NucNet / on October 14, 2013 at 4:12 pm / GE-Hitachi’s Power Reactor Inherently Safe Module (Prism) Generation IV reactor design could be an efficient and cost-effective way to manage the UK’s plutonium stockpile, a conference in Brussels has heard.
David Powell, vice-president of European sales at GE-Hitachi, told the Nuclear Spent Fuel Strategy Forum Europe that if the UK government decides to dispose of its stockpile of plutonium by re-using it as fuel for a nuclear reactor, the Prism design will move from concept to a specific design and then to the market stage of development.
The UK’s current stockpile of plutonium is about 112 tonnes and costs the government approximately 80 million pounds (94 million euros) a year to be stored and protected.
GE-Hitachi’s Generation IV Prism reactor is a modular fast reactor design with a maximum electrical output of 311 megawatts (MW). It uses plutonium and uranium recycled from used nuclear fuel to sustain a nuclear reaction. In this way, it will turn “nuclear waste into fuel,” Mr Powell said.
Mr Powell said the nuclear plant design GE-Hitachi is working on will incorporate two Prism reactors of 311 MW each connected to one turbine to produce a total of 622 MW of electricity. Three such installations would bring the nuclear station’s total output to 1,866 MW.
It could be located at Sellafield, where most of the UK’s plutonium is stored, Mr Powell said. “It could become the centre of excellence for Generation IV reactors.”
The station would also incorporate an advanced recycling centre using a novel electro-metallurgical separation process. It would extract uranium, plutonium and all other transuranic elements from used fuel elements produced by other UK nuclear plants and prepare the residuals for deep geological disposal. One benefit of this is that extracting and recycling transuranics (elements heavier than uranium) from the used fuel cuts the radiotoxic lifetime of the waste from 300,000 years to 300 years.
In August 2013, the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority discussed options for dealing with its stockpile. It concluded that “the reuse of plutonium as MOX (mixed oxide) fuel is the best available option to manage the UK’s plutonium”.
The US authorised the building of Prism in 1992 and has approved its export to the UK for plutonium disposal. The Export Import Bank of the US has expressed interest in financing Prism.
SLX Price at posting:
$2.12 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)