Method of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel
US7445760B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 7, 2001 |
| Grant date | Nov 4, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 7, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02W30/50
- WIPO fieldEngines, pumps, turbines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Most part of an amount of uranium contained in the spent nuclear fuel is removed by making fluorine or a fluorochemical act on the spent nuclear fuel to convert the uranium into UF6, and the uranium is purified through a simple method of distilling the UF6 together with a absorbent. After removing the most part of the amount of uranium, the remaining nuclear fuel material is dissolved and then transferred to an extraction process to recover plutonium. By doing so, a small sized dry process can be employed as a uranium purification process. Since the nuclear fuel material is dissolved and extracted after removing most part of an amount of uranium, a volume of processing solution can be reduced and the machine installation scale can be made small. Accordingly, the reprocessing facility can be extremely downsized.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.