Fuel conditioning facility material accountancy Page: 3 of 8
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FUEL CONDITIONING FACILITY MATERIAL ACCOUNTANCY
A. M. Yacout, R. G. Bucher, and Y. Orechwa
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois USAABSTRACT
The operation of the Fuel conditioning Facility()
(FCF) is based on the electrometallurgical processing of
spent metallic reactor fuel. It differs significantly,
therefore, from traditional PUREX process facilities in
both processing technology and safeguards implications.
For example, the fissile material is processed in FCF only
in batches and is transferred within the facility only as
solid, well-characterized items; there are no liquid steams
containing fissile material within the facility, nor entering
or leaving the facility. The analysis of a single batch lends
itself also to an analytical relationship between the
safeguards criteria, such as alarm limit, detection
probability, and maximum significant amount of fissile
material, and the accounting system's performance, as it is
reflected in the variance associated with the estimate of the
inventory difference. This relation, together with the
sensitivity of the inventory difference to the uncertainties
in the measurements, allows a thorough evaluation of the
power of the accounting system. The system for the
accountancy of the fissile material in the FCF has two
main components: a system to gather and store
information during the operation of the facility, and a
system to interpret this information with regard to meeting
safeguards criteria. These are described and the precision
of the inventory closure over one batch evaluated.
INTRODUCTION
The operation of the Fuel Conditioning Facility (FCF)
is based on the electrometallurgical processing of spent
metallic reactor fuel. It differs significantly, therefore, from
traditional PUREX process facilities in both processing
technology and safeguards implications. For example, the
fissile material is processed in FCF only in batches and is
transferred within the facility only as solid, discrete items;
there are no liquid streams containing fissile material
within the facility, nor entering or leaving the facility. In
addition, it is also a new first-of-a-kind facility, and, assuch, amenable to new and innovative design and
operating approaches without regard to the limitations
posed by retrofitting. For this analysis, we assume that the
spent fuel processed in the facility has been discharged
from the experimental fast breeder reactor EBR-II, and
enters the material balance area (MBA) of the Fuel Cycle
Facility as fuel elements. This aspect of the FCF differs
greatly from PUREX facilities, where the discharged
reactor fuel is first dissolved, and characterized for
accountancy by volume determination and sampling the
solution, before it enters the MBA of the facility. In the
FCF, on the other hand, the mass and composition of the
spent fuel, together with the uncertainties, is determined
from the fresh fuel specifications, and, with validated
computer codes, the calculated change in the as-fabricated
composition due to reactor burnup. This approach,
although in no way limiting the generalization of the
results of this study, is consistent with the startup scenario
for the facility, and the future operation of the facility. In
this mode of operation the facility will process significant
quantities of fissile materials; this requires a tested,
evaluated, and qualified system of accountancy.
The system for the accountancy of the fissile material
in the FCF has two main components: a system to gather
and store information during the operation of the facility,
and a system to interpret this information with regard to
meeting safeguards criteria. The former aspect is centered
about the mass tracking system (MTG). 2) This system
tracks the movement of items, particularly those which
contain nuclear material, inside the FCF and automatically
updates a database with their amount and location. It also
assists FCF operations personnel and process control. The
mass tracking system generates mass balances of criticality
zones within the facility for arbitrary time periods. The
mass tracking and data archiving functions reside on
engineering workstation computers which use high-level
language programs and a commercial database manager.
Archival data and the special nuclear material database are
stored on hard disks. Tape drives are also provided for
permanent archiving of data. The data archival system
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Yacout, A. M.; Bucher, R. G. & Orechwa, Y. Fuel conditioning facility material accountancy, article, August 1, 1995; Illinois. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc793755/m1/3/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.