Fuel-cladding separation

The generation of the finely divided fuel powder by means of the voloxida — tion process enables separation of the oxide fuel from the segmented or punctured cladding by means of screening. Under adequate agitation pro­vided by a rotary or vibrated oxidation reactor, over 99% of the fuel can be cleanly separated. A small amount (0.1 to 1 wt %) of the finely powdered fuel clings to the surface of the cladding and can be recovered by acid washing. Tests with a variety of sources of commercial used fuel, ranging from low-burnup, long-decayed fuel to very high burnup, short-time — decayed fuel have demonstrated that an efficient separation (>99%) of fuel from cladding is possible.