Advanced Fuel Cycle with

Pyroprocessing and Sodium-cooled

Fast Reactor in Korea

Hyo On Nam Nuclear Fuel Cycle Strategy Div.

2017. 10. 17

Technical Meeting on “Advanced Fuel Cycles to Improve the Sustainability of Nuclear Power through the Minimization of High Level Waste”, 17-19 October, 2017, Vienna, IAEA

2

Backgrounds

Advanced Fuel Cycle Options Considered in Korea

R&D of Pyroprocessing Technology

Outline

Backgrounds

4

Nuclear Energy in Korea

Wolseong (#1,2,3,4)

Shin-Wolseong (#1,2)

Hanul (#1,2,3,4,5,6)

Shin-Hanul (#1,2)

Gori (#2,3,4)

Shin-Gori (#1,2,3)

Shin-Gori (#4,5,6)

Hanbit

(#1,2,3,4,5,6)

Radioactive Waste

Disposal Facility

1st stage : 100,000 drums

2nd stage: 125,000 drums

(under construction)

Under Construction

− APR1400 : Shin-Gori (#4,5,6), Shin-Hanul(#1,2)

Site

Gori

Wolseong

Hanbit

Hanul

Total

In Operation (MWe)

6 (5,950)

6 (4,779)

6 (5,900)

6 (5,900)

24 (22,529)

Under Construction

(MWe)

3 (4,200)

-

-

2 (2,800)

5 (7,000)

Total (MWe)

9 (10,150)

6 (4,779)

6 (5,900)

8 (8,700)

29 (29,529)

As of October, 2017

Nuclear

31.7% Fossil Fuel

64.0%

Hydro, etc

4.3%

Source : www. epsis.kpx.or.kr

Source : www. khnp.co.kr

Ratio of Electricity Generation(2016)

24 NPPs are operating (2017.10)

5

Current status of SF storage (As of Dec. 2016)

All PWR spent fuels are stored in the pool of NPP sites

Some part of CANDU spent fuels are stored in AR dry storage

On-site SF storage limit will be reached by mid of 2020s

Spent Nuclear Fuel Generation

Sites Capacity Current

storage

Saturation

Rate

Expected

saturation

PWR

Gori 7,994 5,834 73.0% 2024

Hanbit 9,017 5,965 66.2% 2024

Hanul 7,066 5,123 72.5% 2037

Sin-Wolseong 1,046 253 24.2% 2038

Sum 25,123 17,175 68.4% -

CANDU Wolseong 499,632 422,908 84.6% 2019

(As of the end of 2016)

(about 15,000 tHM) 7,000 tons from PWR, 8,000 tons from CANDU

6

Radioactive Waste Management Law (2008)

Establishment of Korea Radioactive-waste Management Corporation of which

responsibilities includes spent fuel interim-storage and disposal

Establishment of RWM fund

Recommendation by PECOS (Public Engagement Commission on SNF

Management) (2015)

Recommendation of basic direction for three areas ; spent fuel management option,

direction of support for local communities, law and institution

Basic Plan on HLW Management by MOTIE (2016)

Announcement of basic plan on HLW management based on the PECOS

recommendation

255th Meeting of the KAEC (2008), 1st Meeting of the KAEPC (2011) : Long-

term R&D Plan and 6th Meeting of the KAEPC (2016) : Long-term R&D Plan

on Future Nuclear System

Sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR) technology development (~2028)

Pyroprocessing technology development (~2025)

Decisions Regarding Spent Fuel Management

# KAEPC : Korea Atomic Energy Promotion Commission

# MOTIE : Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

7

Korean government-launched PECOS* made recommendations to the

Government for a spent fuel management policy on July 2015

*Public Engagement Commission on Spent Nuclear Fuel Management

Suggestion of 10 Recommendations from 20 Months Public Discussion

Suggestion of Construction Milestone of HLW Management Facilities ; Three

Facilities at the Same Site

Legislation of Spent Fuel Management Law for Assuring Transparency, Safety

and Sustainability

Continuation of R&Ds for Volume and Radio-toxicity Reduction at the Same

Time

Recommendation by PECOS (2015)

Pool

Storage

Short

term dry

storage

Disposal

Facility

operation

from 2051

URL by 2030

Interim

Storage

construction

from 2020

8

Suggestion of Step by Step Method and Procedure for Site Selection

Same site for Licensing URL, Interim Storage and Disposal, at the same time,

Continuing Effort for the International Storage and Disposal

Site Acquisition from Scientific Examination and Democratic Procedure

Exemption of unsuitable region of all national land

Invitation of local governments in suitable regions

Basic examination for the site including site characteristics and suitability

Confirmation of the public opinion of the region passed the basic examination

Detail examination of the site confirmed the public opinion

Final decision

Establishment of the Independent Organization for the Site Selection

Basic Plan on HLW Management (2016)

Step Exemption of

unsuitable region

Invitation of

local governments

Basic

Examination Confirmation of the

public opinion

Detail examination

of the site

Duration 8 years 4 years

9

Interim Storage Construction After Site Acquisition (7 years) and Disposal

Facility Construction After Site Acquisition (24 years)

R&Ds on Key technologies

Transportation, interim storage and disposal

General URL for disposal safety

Technologies for volume and radio-toxicity reduction of spent fuel

Transparency and Public Acceptance

Open information and related data

Site selection organization consisting of neutral persons and experts

Monitoring organization governed by local government in a HLW management

region

Basic Plan on HLW Management (2016)

Site selection activity

URL Disposal

‘28 ‘53 ‘17

Interim storage

Site selection

‘35 ‘29

Advanced Fuel Cycle Options

Considered in Korea

11

Issues in Spent Fuel Disposition

2024 (Urgently need expansion of storage capacity)

Do we have an intermediate measure to store the SNF?

Need more than 10 repositories same size with Finish Olkiluoto

Do we have a good geological formation to dispose of all SNF in ROK?

TRUs are concerns along with some fission products

Do we have a measure to assure the long term safety of a repository over millions of years?

A bridge too far yet

Do we have support from public and stakeholders for waste disposal?

12

Option studies are needed to provide technical information for policy-making

Pyroprocessing-SFR Closed fuel cycle and nonproliferation acceptability

Long-term storage of spent fuel and associated wastes

Direct disposal

SF Management Options in Korea

Recycle (Pyro)

HLW SFR

SNF

AR Storage

Overseas Reprocessing

Long-term Storage

Spent MOX + HLW

Policy Making

Overseas Storage

Interim Storage

Direct Disposal

Geologic Disposal

?

?

13

Future nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) options

Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options in Korea

Mining &

Milling Conversion Enrichment

PWR Fuel

Fabrication PWR

Interim

Storage

Pyro-

processing

SFR Fuel

Fabrication SFR

Pyro-

processing Disposal

Once-through

cycle

Pyro-SFR

cycle

Mining &

Milling Conversion Enrichment

PWR Fuel

Fabrication PWR

Interim

Storage

Disposal

14

Long-Term Plan for Closed Fuel Cycle System

Specific Design

Detailed Design

Prototype SFR

Electrical

Heater

7 MWt

Air cooler

FW pump

SG

PHTS

pump IHTS

pumpIHX

545.0 oC

390.0 oC

30kg/s

320.7 oC

526.0 oC

320.0 oC

503.1 oC

23

0.0oC

230.0 oC

Pump

Drain tank

Plugging

indicator

Cold trap

hot air out

Air sta

ck

hot sodium in

AHX

cold sodium out

cold air in

PDRC

AHX

Expansion tankArgon

LSDT

DHX

IRACS

Air Blower

Active AHX

PGSFR

Conceptual Design

(’12) SAR (’17)

Design Approval

(’20) Construction

(’28)

PRIDE Operation & Improvement

ACPF/DFDF Operation and Improvement

PRIDE (‘12)

Completion (‘20)

Pyro- Processing

Prototype Facility

(‘25)

2008 2011 2016 2020 2026 2028

Approved by the AEC (2008.12, 2011.11, 2016.07)

Construction of a Prototype Pyro. facility will start after evaluating the technical feasibility, economic viability and nonproliferation acceptability in the JFCS.

Research on electro-reduction using US-origin SF can be carried out in KAERI according to the new Agreement for cooperation between the U.S. and Korea

15

Partitioning & Transmutation Plan in Korea

Fresh

Fuel

Spent

Fuel

Fission

Products

Trans

Uranics

55 GWd/tU

10 yrs cooling

U-235 ( 4.5w/o)

U-238 (95.5w/o)

5 yrs

TRU

(1.4%)

I, Tc

(0.18%)

Cs, Sr

(0.53%)

High heat, but short-lived

U

(92.95%)

Long-lived & high effective dose

FPs

(4.95%)

High activity & Long-lived

Short-lived

Feed for Fuel

Fast Reactor

Deep Geological Disposal

Independent Storage

Recycled / Storage

16

Partitioning & Transmutation Plan in Korea

P&T

Reduce

Decay Heat

Public

Acceptance

Minimize

Repository footprint

Separate Storage

for Cs/Sr

P&T of

mobile LLFP

Reduce Long-term

Radiotoxicity

P&T of

TRU

Increase

Long-term Safety

Primary Goal

Partitioning and Transmutation of TRU (Lv.4)

Partitioning of Cs/Sr is pursued to reduce the repository size (Lv.5)

Partitioning of LLFP is also considered

17

Cooling time vs. Decay heat

Separation efficiency (SE) of TRU, Cs/Sr

SE = 99%, Heat loading can be reduced to a factor of 66

SE = 99.9%, a factor of 160

Decay Heat of Spent Fuels

Decay Heat

(W/ton) Total TRU Cs/Sr Others

40 yr 1,110 472.01 632.09 5.9

(%) 100.00 42.52 56.95 0.53

100 yr 494.7 343 151.5 0.2

(%) 100.00 69.33 30.62 0.04

18

Based on one of the FS version, footprint was quantified and compared for

two fuel cycle options

Separation efficiency (TRU recovery ~99.9%, Cs/Sr ~99.9%)

Direct disposal footprint for ~60,000 tons of SF (~13.5km2)

Repository footprint for HLW (~ 0.132 km2)

Repository Footprint (vs. OT cycle)

Zero flux

boundaries

4 lateral faces

Constant

temperature

boundary

Constant

temperature

boundary

Bentonite buffer

Canister

Spent fuel

Backfilled

disposal tunnel

Rock

Ground

494 m

7.83 m

500 m

20 m

Distance

6.0 m

19

Radiotoxicity of PWR SF

20

Radiotoxicity is reduced to ~1/1000

Radiotoxicity after partitioning

21

Direct disposal

Dose Rate (Long-term Safety of Repository)

102

103

104

105

106

10-10

10-9

10-8

10-7

10-6

10-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

79Se

226Ra

129I

135Cs

36Cl

14C

An

nua

l D

ose R

ate

, m

Sv/y

r

Time after disposal, yr

C-14

Cl-36

Cs-135

I-129

Ra-226

Se-79

Total

2 mrem/yr

disposal canister lifetime: 10,000 years

Total

Direct disposal case: 34,893 canisters

102

103

104

105

106

10-6

10-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

0.226 mrem/yr

Annual dose r

ate

, m

Sv/y

r

Time after disposal, yr

Pyro [release rate: 10-5/yr]

Pyro [release rate: 10-6/yr]

Direct disposal of SNF

2 mrem/yr

0.236 mrem/yr

22

Deep geological disposal of Tc/I containing waste after partitioning

Direct disposal of SF, 2.26x10-3 mSv/yr

HLW from pyroprocessing, 2.36x10-3 mSv/yr

Dose Rate (Long-term Safety of Repository)

Spent Fuel

HLW

R & D of Pyroprocessing

Technology in Korea

24

Group recovery of reusable elements from spent fuel using electro-

chemical reaction in high temperature(500~650 ℃) molten salt electrolyte

Closed fuel cycle system (Pyroprocessing combined to a SFR) can

reduce the disposal area and radio-toxicity dramatically and resolve

spent fuel management challenges

Pyroprocessing

Pyroprocessing recovers transuranium elements(Np, Pu, Am, Cm) together

and is a proliferation-resistant technology based on group recovery

25

Flow Diagram of Pyroprocessing

26

Overview

Reuse of discarded U-conversion facility after decontamination and remodeling works

Milestone : Design (‘07~’08), Installation (‘09~’12.6), Test-run & Operation (‘12.7~ )

Purposes

Test and demonstration of Eng.-scale full-spectrum pyroprocessing performance with depleted

uranium(DU) and simulated fuel (50 kgU/batch)

Experimental activities of PRIDE also included in a research item of JFCS

Main Features

Environment : Air (glove-box, 1st floor), Ar (air-tight cell, 2nd floor)

Ar-cell : Dimension L40.3 x W4.8 x H6.4 m, Impurity(moisture & oxygen) < 50 ppm

Integrated pyroprocessing equipments (17 workstations each equipped with 2 MSM)

Remote handling equipments, monitoring system, and Ar purification system

PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive Demonstration facility)

Process cell(L) and Operation area(R) of PRIDE Exterior of PRIDE

27

Increased throughput, process efficiency and scale-up

Graphite cathode employment to recover U in electrorefining system

Application of residual actinides recovery (RAR) system

High performance electrolytic reduction process

Reduced waste volume

Crystallization to recover pure salt from waste mixture

Simple / easy remote operability and enhanced inter-connection between unit

processes

PRIDE experience

Process Development Objectives and Achievements

Electrolytic Reduction

Equipment (50kg/batch)

Electrorefiner

with Graphite Cathode

Higher Throughput Higher Throughput

RAR Process Using

LCC

TRU Loss < 0.1 %

Waste Treatment with Layer Crystallization

Waste Volume

Reduction

PRIDE Facility

Integrated

Mockup Facility

28

Unit operation test with uranium and

simulated fuel completed.

- UO2 porous pellet with surrogates (Ln

oxides-1.8%, Ba/Zr/Sr oxides - 1.1%)

fabricated

- Anode and cathode module for oxide

reduction equipment tested

- Self-scraping property of U deposit with

graphite cathodes for electrorefiner tested

- Crystallization for LiCl waste salt and

precipitation for LiCl-KCl waste salt

performed

2015 Technical Progress in PRIDE

<UO2 porous pellet>

<OR anode module>

porous

shroud

<self-scraping of U deposit

after electro-refining>

<crystallization product>

29

Integration test (pretreatment-OR-ER) using

simulated fuel

- Simfuel fabrication for OR process :

• 100 kg of UO2 porous pellets with simfuel

composition(Heavy metal basis, tab density :

4.88g/cm3)

- Oxide Reduction Processes

• 3 consecutive runs using 60 kg of simulated fuels (50

kg in U-base)

• Applied current: >1,000 A

- Electrochemical Recovery Processes

• Electrorefining: current efficiency higher than 75%

• Electrowinning: recovery of 7wt% HM(U+RE)/Cd

product

- Waste salt purification

• melt crystallization & reactive distillation salt

regeneration/FPs separation: 90~99%

2016 Technical Progress in PRIDE

<Simfuel pellets inside OR cathode basket>

<OR-ER transport> <Metal products in OR>

<LiCl-KCl Purification> <LiCl purification >

30

Prove and Develop Technical & Economical Viability

Lab-scale experiments for innovative technologies

High-efficiency process system, scale-up technology development

Economy assessment

Enhance Safeguardability and Proliferation Resistance

Development of advanced safeguards tools (process monitoring)

System design improvement (towards Safeguards-by Design)

Contribution to the IAEA safeguards implementation (support program,

training course, etc)

International Cooperation

International project for process viability

Meeting for transparency

JFCS (Joint Fuel Cycle Study)

Strategy to Move Forward for Pyroprocess

Overview of Joint Fuel Cycle Studies (JFCS) (I)

On 13 April 2011, the ROK and US entered

into a new era of bilateral nuclear energy

partnership

Purpose of the Joint Fuel Cycle Study – To jointly evaluate the technical feasibility, economic viability and

nonproliferation acceptability of the electrochemical recycling process

☞ Three working groups : Electrochemical Recycling (CRADA*),Safeguards and Security, and

Fuel Cycle Alternatives

History of JFCS – ’11.04 : Agreement for JFCS

– ’11.07 : Signed CRADA of Phase I (’11~’12) in JFCS

– ’12.12 : Completion of Phase I Confirmed technical feasibility on lab-scale basis

– ’13.07 : Signed CRADA of Phase II-A (’13~’14) in JFCS

– ’13.11 : Approval of NTT (Nuclear Technology Transfer) between USA and ROK

– ’15.01 : Start Phase II-B (’15~’17) in JFCS

* CRADA : Cooperative Research And Development Agreement

31

Main activities in each phase

Phase I Phase II-A Phase II-B Phase III

Period ’11.7 ~ ’12.12 (1.5 yrs) ’13.1 ~ ’14.12 (2 yrs) ’15.1 ~ ’17.12 (3 yrs) ’18.1 ~ ’20.12 (3 yrs)

Main

Activities

•Production of TRU

Button by LSFS

(30~50g/ Batch)

(Lab.-Scale Feasibility

Study) •Analysis of state-of Art of

SGs

• Process Equipment

for IRT (~2 kg/Batch)

: Design (’13~’14)

: Manufacturing

(’14~’15)

• Prepare SGs Equip.

for IRT

• Installation & Commissioning of

IRT Equipment in HFEF at INL

•Production of U/TRU ingot

for metal fuel

•SGs Equipment Demonstration

& Analysis of Eng.-scale SGs

System

•Production of TRU fuel,

Irradiation Test at ATR,

and PIE

• Integrated Recycling Test

using LWR SF

•Scalability Test

•Evaluate Safeguards Tools

and System Performance

Overview of Joint Fuel Cycle Studies (JFCS) (II)

10-year JFCS is divided into three phases

All phases include joint safeguards development and evaluations of

technologies important to major alternatives

– Phase I - Evaluation of the laboratory-scale feasibility of electrochemical recycling

– Phase II - Determination of reliable integrated process operation with used LWR fuel

– Phase III - Evaluation of the irradiation performance of fuel fabricated from recycled

LWR fuel

Phase I Phase II Phase III

2011 2013 2018 2020

* IRT : Integral Recycling Test

32

33

Korea has not a definite spent fuel management policy and still so-called ‘wait

and see’.

Based on the public engagement activities from 2014 to 2015, major

milestones on spent fuel management were established by government (Basic

Plan on HLW Management)

Site acquisition of URL and repository, Interim storage of spent fuels, Disposal of

HLWs

Pyro-SFR advanced fuel cycle is considered to reduce the repository footprint

and radio-toxicity

Full recycling of TRU(Pu+MA) and Cs/Sr separation

R&Ds on spent fuel management options will continue by the end of 2020’s

Evaluate the technical feasibility, economic viability and nonproliferation

acceptability of the electrochemical recycling process

Closing Remarks

# MOTIE : Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

# MSIT : Ministry of Science and ICT