1

Nuclear Fuel Plant

Pitesti – RomaniaSibiu sept 2015

1.1. CANDU Nuclear Fuel Cycle in Romania

Uranium Mines

Feldioara Branch

Feldioara Conversion Plant(UO2 sinterable powder)

NUCLEAR FUEL PLANT

Pitesti

Minning and milling

for extraction

natural uranium

Institute for Nuclear Research

Pitesti (technical support)

Intermediate

Storage for

Nuclear Fuel Burnt

(DICA)

Heavy water from ROMAG Turnu

Severin

FCN

Cernavoda Nuclear

Power Plant U1&U2

CAMECO Fuel Manufacturing - evaluation 15.10.- 26.10.20129/10/2015 CAMECO Fuel Manufacturing - evaluation 15.10.- 26.10.2012 3

Vizita la Fabrica de Combustibil Nuclear

15.05.2014

The roads and vecinities of FCN

Nuclear Site Piteşti

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History • 24 June 2008 • FCN-Piteşti performed succesfully the shipment no.100 of nuclear fuel

bundles to Cernavodă NPP• 2008

The plant rehabilitation works go on considering the nuclear fuel supply needed for the Cernavodă NPP’s Units 3 & 4.

• 2008-2009The construction of Hall V that belongs to Assembling Section

• 2009-2011 • The rehabilitation of Hall I and changing the activity from recycling uranium to

pellets fabrication (UO2 green pellets production)• March 2011

• Fabrication of the nuclear fuel bundle with 100,000 number.

• 15 Nov 2011• FCN-Piteşti performed successfully the shipment no. 150 with of nuclear fuel

bundles to Cernavodă NPP.• 02 sept 2013

• Fabrication of the nuclear fuel bundle with 120,000 number

• January 2015

• Fabrication of the nuclear fuel bundle with 140,000 number• 29 April 2015• FCN-Piteşti performed the shipment no. 200 with nuclear fuel bundles for

Cernavodă NPP.

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LICENSES and AUTHORIZATIONSThe Romanian Regulatory Body (Competent Authority in nuclear field) –CNCAN, has issued for FCN-Piteşti seven authorizations for activities innuclear field and with radioactive material valid for period 2014-2016 :

Possession,

Using,

Handling,

Processing of the nuclear raw material,

Producing of the nuclear fuel bundles,

Temporary Storage

Supplying.

For Laboratory of Radioprotection and Personnel Dosimetry (LRDP) CNCANhas issued an autorization for accreditation for 2014-2017

For Transportation of Radioactive Material (TMR) FCN is authorised byCNCAN for the period 2014-2019

For Quality Management System, CNCAN has issued an authorization valid forperiod 2014 – 2016

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HUMAN RESOURCES

FCN has 390 employees (01.09.2015) that work in:

• day-shift,

• two shifts from Monday to Friday,

• three shifts 24 hours per day

All the FCN employees are radiation workers, classified in category A and B of exposure concerning CNCAN regulation

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RAW MATERIALS for

CANDU FUEL FABRICATION

Nuclear Material (NM)natural uranium (0.711% U-235) and depleted uranium

(0.25% U-235 and 0.52% U-235) all in UO2 form

Material for Nuclear Interest (MNI)

components of zircaloy-4: tubes, strip, bar, wire

Material with Double Utillisation (MDU)beryllium

Production Deliveries Supplying

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• The capacity of the plant is 12.000nuclear fuel bundles per year

• Actually production is 10.800 nuclear fuel bundles per year that means 15 shipments to Cernavoda NPP unit 1&2 (each shipment consist in 720 fuel bundles in 20 wooden crates, about 14 tons of natural uranium)

• The UO2 sinterable powder is delivered by CNU Feldioara Branch

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Transportation and receiving the UO2 sinterable powder from Feldioara Conversion Plant

UO2 sinterable powder(transported with FCN authorized truck) is received and stored in the storage for UO2 fresh powder until is transferred for processing forobtaining the UO2 sintered pellets

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Conditioning operation and Rollcompactors

Blending with Zn

stearate and

conditioning

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Pressing operation and GEA CourtoyR-53 rotary press

Blended powder (Zn stearate + UO2 powder) in the special container is transferred to press machine for transforming in green pellets by pressing

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Storage System for green pellets

The storage system is new and it is provided with automatic pathways for transportation of green pellets from press and sending to loading in the sintering furnaces area

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Sintering Operation and the furnaces

Furnaces for sintering the green pellets and a view with the exiting group of sintered pellets

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Grinding, washing & drying and forming the sintered pellets columns

Grinding machine and washing & drying the sintered pellets to obtain the final dimensions;

• Then, with sintered pellets washed and dried, the sintered pellets columns are formed

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Beryllium coating and brazing operations for components

Beryllium coating equipment

- two installations for vacuum evaporation with electrical resistance;

- one installation for vacuum evaporation with induction heating;

Brazing

- two equipments for brazing;

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Graphiting operation

• Graphite coating (CANLUB)

• slurry (isopropylic alcohol and graphite) for cover the inner surface of the sheath

• automatic installation for graphite coating by pulverization with continuous operating;

• Graphite baking (heat treatment) for the release of alcohol

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Loading UO2 sintered pellets in sheaths

Station for loading pellets into sheaths has two working points

The sintered pellets are received in formed columns on the grids

for each nuclear fuel bundle are necessary 37 columns

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Mechanical operations for Zy-4 components

• Performed in Hall for Mechanical Processing (HPM)

• End caps from Zy-4 bar

• Pads from Zy-4

strip and wire

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End cap welding operation

• This operation is performed by three machines for end cap with sheath welding and two complex aggregate machines that including debavuring operation

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End plate - cap welding and final inspection of nuclear fuel

bundles

• End plate end cap welding has two working points

• Final inspectionfor nuclear fuel bundle is performed after this technical operation before wrapping and packaging

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Wrapping and Packaging

• 36 fuel bundles stackedon three layers inside wooden crates (12 fuel bundles per layer)

• The gross weight of each wooden crate is about one tonne

• This means about 0.7 tonne natural uranium (about 0.8 tonne of UO2)

• Twenty wooden crates (720 nuclear fuel bundles) means one shipment

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Storage for Nuclear Fuel Bundles

• Storage for Fresh

Nuclear Fuel(provided with barrier, fume detectors, controlled access, alarm, video camera)

• Authorized capacity :

2,000 nuclear fuel

bundles

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NUCLEAR FUEL BUNDLE CANDU 6 type (with 37 ELEMENTS)

FEATURES:

Total weight: about 24 Kg natural or depleted uranium;

UO2 weighting: about 22 Kg;

U weighting about: 19.2 –19.3 Kg

Zircaloy weighting about: 2 Kg

Nominal length: 495.30 mm;

Maximum diameter: 102.49 mm;

37 fuel elements, 74 end-caps, 2 end-plates

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FCN Piteşti perimeter radiological areas

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Controlled area

• The controlled area includes the following buildings and rooms:

Halls I, II, III, IV and V and their annexes,

Platform for temporary storage of nonconforming nuclear material and contaminated (radioactive) waste (PDT),

Storage of uranium dioxide powder (UO2),

Storages for nuclear fuel bundles,

Physico-Chemical Analysis Laboratory (LAFC),

Radiation Protection and Personnel Dosimetry Laboratory (LRDP),

Storage for zircaloy-4,

Ecological incinerator (in preservation).

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Supervised area• The supervised area includes the remaining locations

of FCN-Piteşti site: Administrative Building Hall of Mechanical Processing (HPM); Storages of oils, carpentry workshop, minitrucks station,

compressors station, dedicated space for storage of gas cylinders, rolled magazine, materials and spare parts warehouse ;

Central storage of materials; Station for hydrogen production, installation for water

demineralization, installation for recirculation cooling water, electrical transformer station and its own distribution

Platforms for collecting municipal (non-radioactive) waste

Platform for collecting recyclable waste (non-radioactive): metal, glass, plastic, paper

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Laboratory of Radioprotection and Personnel Dosimetry

Annually Individual Doses for FCN personnel

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TRANSPORTATION of RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

FCN-Piteşti is licensed by CNCAN and Romanian Roads Authority for

transportation the nuclear material as: nuclear fuel

bundles, UO2 powder,non-conforming nuclear

material, radioactive waste (category of very low

activity) All the activities for

transportation are procedured for safety and

security and are under dosimetric control. In

addition for each shipment the FCN-Piteşti crew is

escorted by guard teams, specially trained for this type of transportation.

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Transportations of Radioactive Material

From 1996 until now, 205 shipments of nuclear fuel bundles (with natural and depleted uranium) to Cernavodă-NPP were performed

These means that about 145.000 nuclearfuel bundles were delivered to CernavodăNPP U1&2

Thus, about over 170 shipments of UO2powder and other kinds of shipments wereperformed by FCN-Piteşti without events.

Sampling Point for Environmental Monitoring