An Assessment of Applying Pyroprocessing Technology to Advanced Pebble-Type Fuels
With an expected increased demand for high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) to supply advanced reactors, the possibility of recovering actinides from various used nuclear fuels (UNF) is being re-assessed. Pebble-type fuels such as tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel are intended to be directly disposed after use, but the HALEU remaining in each pebble is a resource with increasing value. An economically feasible recovery strategy would maximize the amount of HALEU recovered for reuse in new fuel without increasing the waste volume relative to the direct disposal of used TRISO fuel. We are evaluating the technical feasibility of recycling TRISO or pebble fuels to recover actinides for reuse as new fuel for advanced reactors by using pyrochemical methods.