Title: UPDATE ON SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL (SNF) RETRIEVAL AT THE DOE HANFORD SITE [WAS HNF-7785]
Abstract: In early December 2000, the Spent Nuclear Fuel Project on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation successfully shipped the first of 2100 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel to a new dry storage facility. The objective of the project is to remove the threat of contamination to the Columbia River, of which the Hanford Reach is the last free flowing stretch. The project uses remote systems in the Hanford Site's K Basins to reduce exposure to operators performing the decapping, washing, sorting, and repackaging of the fuel. This paper discusses the equipment involved in the fuel retrieval process. The design requirements were based on minimal development and deployment while minimizing radiological exposure to personnel during the fuel retrieval campaign. Minimal development limited the risks for schedule and cost, and minimal deployment minimized disruption of the facility's ongoing operations. The result is a mixture of manual past practices, remote control, and computer control. The fuel retrieval process removes lids from the fuel canister, washes the fuel assemblies, sorts the assemblies into loadable fuel and scrap, and puts the loadable fuel into the fuel basket. The baskets are loaded with 48 to 54 fuel assemblies and placed into the multicanister overpack 5 or sixmore » deep, depending on the fuel type. The multicanister overpack is sent to the cold vacuum drying facility to remove moisture then sent to the canister storage building for long term dry storage. The fuel retrieval process is intended to remove visible sludge and corrosion products from the spent nuclear fuel assemblies. Inadequately cleaned fuel assemblies can lengthen the drying process and corrosion products pose a pressure buildup problem within the multicanister overpack. After installation, the selected systems were put through four phases of testing. The first phase tested individual systems. Phase 2 testing involved proficiency tests using canisters with simulated fuel elements. Once the process was being satisfactorily performed, DOE gave approval to start the third phase of testing, which started October 18, 2000. This phase used the spent nuclear fuel for operational testing. Test results from this phase were used to determine if initiating Phase 4 testing was warranted. Phase 4 testing was for process validation to demonstrate the systems' ability to process all ages of fuel to meet requirements for the drying process and dry storage. The project is expected to finish the fourth phase of testing in February 2001 and then proceed into production mode. Removal of all fuel from the K West basin is scheduled for completion in December of 2002. K East basin cleanup is scheduled to start during that same time and be completed two years later.« less
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-03-01
Language: en
Type: paratext
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