U. S. plants. The principal U. S. reprocessing plants are listed in Table 10.3, together with their main process features. All use some form of the Purex process. In 1979, the only ones operating were the Savannah River and Idaho plants of the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Hanford plant had been used primarily for recovery of plutonium and uranium from irradiated natural uranium, but was versatile and had been used, for example, for Thorex

Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant Barnwell, S. C.

Allied General Nuclear Services

Waiting for license

5

5

40,000

160

Shear-leach

Semicontinuous

Centrifugal + pulse columns 30

1

Electrolytic 2 cycles TBP

1 cycle TBP + silica gel Evaporate

Remote + direct [АЗ, B21, M10]

process runs (sec. 5.5). The F area at Savannah River is used primarily for irradiated natural uranium, but it, too, has been used for Thorex runs. The H area at Savannah River is a multi­purpose facility used for processing highly enriched uranium from production and test reactors.

The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant is a versatile, multipurpose facility used for recovering highly enriched uranium from a variety of fuels in naval propulsion, research, and test reactors. Materials processed [Al] include aluminum-alloyed, zirconium-alloyed, stainless steel-based, and graphite-based fuels. The West Valley plant, although designed primarily for low-enriched uranium fuel from power reactors, also processed plutonium-enriched and thorium-based fuels. It is the only U. S. plant to have reprocessed fuel from commercial nuclear power plants.

The Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant is the newest U. S. reprocessing plant. In 1979, it was nearly complete, but standing unused because of U. S. government policy unfavorable to reprocessing fuel from power reactors. Its main process features are to be described in Sec. 4.14 as an example of a modem Purex plant.

Overseas plants. Table 10.4 lists the reprocessing plants outside of the United States and the Soviet Union with capacities greater than 100 kg heavy metal per day and gives their principal process features. In addition to these plants, smaller plants have been operated in Italy, India, and, probably, other countries.

The Cogema plant at Marcoule, France, designed originally for natural uranium fuel from plutonium-production reactors, has also been used to reprocess natural uranium fuel from Magnox power reactors. Since 1976 the Cogema plant at La Hague, France, has been operating head-end facilities that enable it to handle slightly enriched fuel from water reactors. The capacity at La Hague is being increased, first by expansion of the plant to 800 t/year and, later, by construction of a larger plant [С5]. Figure 10.3 is an aerial view of the plant at La Hague.

The British Magnox reprocessing plant at Windscale, designed originally for natural uranium fuel from plutonium-production reactors, is being used to reprocess slightly enriched, low-bumup fuel from British gas-cooled power reactors. From 1970 to 1973 this plant also operated a Butex head-end facility that enabled it to process higher-burnup oxide fuel from LWRs. A second plant at Windscale, termed THORP, using the Purex process to treat oxide fuel, is planned [B17] as the British participation in United Reprocessors GmbH, a joint Anglo-French-German company created to coordinate commercial fuel reprocessing in Europe.

The 0.17 MT/day WAK Purex pilot plant at Karlsruhe, West Germany, has operated since 1971 [S3]. A joint venture of Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KFK) and Gesellschaft zur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kembrennstoffen mbH (GWK), this plant has provided operating experience to guide design of the full-scale Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wiederaufbereitung von Kembrennstoffen (DKW) plant.

Additional European reprocessing experience was gained from the Eurochemic plant at Mol, Belgium [D1 ]. This joint undertaking of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency operated a demonstration reprocessing plant from 1966 until the mid-1970s. This multipurpose plant could reprocess either 0.35 MT/day of slightly enriched uranium or 10 to 20 kg/day of 93 percent enriched MSU.

The 0.7 MT/day plant at Tokai-Mura is a prototype of a larger plant that Japan expects to build.