Nearly 2100 metric tons of metallic uranium spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are stored in two water-filled poolsthe K-Basinsin the 100-K Area at Hanford. The Spent Nuclear Fuel Project is resolving the safety and environmental issues associated with continued wet storage of the deteriorating SNF in these basins. The projects fuel-handling process involves preparing, loading, and transporting fuel for drying and subsequent storage in canisters, pending suitable repository disposal. Scrap generated from October to July, 2001, while washing the SNF to prepare it for cold vacuum drying, differed significantly from that envisioned during project design. This raised the issue that the geometric reactive surface area of particles of uranium in the scrap could be higher than allowed for the baseline process. Therefore, Fluor Hanford convened a technical review panel to evaluate the new information about the physical characteristics of scrap generated during processing. The technical review began after K-Basin staff tested the process by retrieving, weighing, and photographing the scrap that they collected during the washing process. The panel attempted to meet three objectives, in the following order of preference: Based on the physical characteristics that are important to ensuring that scrap can be safely dried and stored, provide a technically defensible position that all scrap that will be generated is qualified for loading into canisters for cold vacuum drying by qualifying the existing washing equipment and process; Based on these same physical characteristics, qualify the examined SNF for loading into canisters for drying; and Recommend potential improvements that could improve or accommodate the characteristics of the resulting scrap if it cannot be qualified for loading into canisters for drying.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
