The recycling of spent nuclear fuel

The recycling of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is under consideration in the United States as a way to alleviate the burden on long-term radioactive waste storage facilities. Currently, the United States does not have a large-scale SNF recycling facility and therefore lacks the practical knowledge and experience of performing the tasks associated with SNF recycling. Recently, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) started a small-scale, SNF recycle R&D project under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). This program is known as the Coupled-End-to-End (CETE) Demonstration. A primary purpose of the CETE demonstration is to identify and resolve interfacial issues between the various steps in processing SNF. The CETE demonstration will process kilogram quantities of SNF and provide an opportunity to begin to reestablish the development of the diverse knowledge and skill base needed to design, manage, operate, regulate, and maintain a national SNF recycling program. CETE is an exceptional venue for training and collaboration, not only between Department of Energy (DOE) facilities, but between DOE and the educational community. Recently, ORNL has established collaboration with the Texas A&M University to perform and evaluate various Non-Destructive Assay techniques to quantify fissile content of the SNF. Additionally, talks are underway to expand into other possibilities on both a short-term and long-term basis including using the CETE as a training platform for graduate students focusing on radiochemistry and safeguarding of nuclear fuel cycle technologies.