Hydrometallurgical actinide separation processes for advanced nuclear fuel cycles

92 Pages·2013·13.44 MB·English

Hydrometallurgical actinide separation processes
for advanced nuclear fuel cycles
Andreas Geist
INSTITUT FÜR NUKLEARE ENTSORGUNG (INE)
Photo, ITU
KIT –Universität des Landes Baden-Württemberg und
www.kit.edu
nationales Forschungszentrum in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
???
Hydrometallurgy?
Actinides?
Advanced nuclear fuel cycles?
2 European Summer Campus 2013 Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung (INE)
How it all began…
EBR-I
First electricity generated
by nuclear energy
4 × 200 W light bulbs
 200 kW electricity
“First Light”
Experimental Breeder Reactor 1,
Idaho, 20/12/1951
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How it all began…
Obninsk (near Moscow)
First “commercial” NPP
Connection to grid, 26/6/1954
Shutdown, 29/4/2002
Net power, 5 MW
el
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…and where we are today
World U.S.A. EU
No. of NPP 434 100 132
Net capacity[GW ] 370 99 122
el
Share [%] 11 19 30
IAEA figures
2·109 t CO avoided annually
2
1·104 t used nuclear fuels discharged annually
Currently stored or reprocessed
Used fuel or reprocessing waste to be disposed of
in deep geologic repository (clay, granite, salt)
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What’s the point?
109
108
total
]
M
H
107
t

/

v
S
[ 106

y
t
i
c
105
i
x U
o nat
t
o
i 104
d
a
r
103
102
101 102 103 104 105 106
time after discharge [a]
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ACTINIDES
Elements at the dusty end
of the table of elements
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What Happens?
Fission
Sustains chain reaction, produces thermal energy
23 GWh/kg (coal, 10 kWh/kg)
89
Kr
36
1
n
0
235
U
92
144
Ba
56
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What Happens?
Neutron capture
Produces other actinides
238 239 239 239
U U Np Pu
92 92 93 94
1
n
0
23 min 2.4 d 24,000 y
1
n
0 0
0
e e
−1 −1
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What Happens?
n + U-235  fission products + 2–3 n + approx. 200 MeV
n + U-238  Pu-239
n + Pu-239  fission products + 2–3 n + approx. 200 MeV
U-235 (t = 7.0·108 a)
½
U-238 (t = 4.5·109 a)
½
↓
Fission products + TRU
(t = seconds – Ma)
½
TRU = transuranium elements (Np, Pu, Am, Cm)
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