UK National Nuclear Laboratory Waste Management. Dr Matt Randall Business Leader Environmental Services

Transcription

1 UK National Nuclear Laboratory Waste Management Dr Matt Randall Business Leader Environmental Services

2 Introduction Memorandum of Understanding signed between NNL and ANDR in January 2014 Aim to develop cooperation in radioactive waste management Three workpackages agreed Spent fuel management Pre-disposal monitoring Public acceptance

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4 History of Sellafield

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7 UK R&D and Generation I Fuels 2014 Exotics in order of 500 thm Magnox Fuel 3,800 thm in April 2012 Images courtesy of NDA

8 UK Continuing Nuclear Fleet AGR fuel 6 stations MWe scheduled closure anticipate 5-7 years extension 5,000-6,000 thm PWR fuel 1 station 1198 MWe scheduled closure 2035 anticipate 20 years extension 1,200tHM

9 UK Fuel Storage Future New Build Programme potential 16 GW capacity by GW capacity approved (Hinkley C) may include EPR, AP1000 and ABWR up to 23,500 thm Possibility of Expanded Programme up to 75 GW up to 87,000 thm Reuse Pu fuels Potential for introduction of MOX into new build programme Image courtesy of NAMRC

10 Some key dates at Sellafield 1964 Magnox Reprocessing Plant becomes operational 1971 April - Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971 Formation of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) 1983 Site preparation and Civil Engineering for Thorp Receipt and Storage Site Ion Exchange Effluent Plant (SIXEP) commences operation 1988 First Spent Fuel into Thorp Receipt and Storage 1991 Magnox Encapsulation Plant (MEP) -Incapsulation of magnox swarf in 500 litre stainless steel drums Windscale Vitrification Plant (WVP) - Conversion of High Level Liquid Wastes to solid glass in stainless steel product containers 1994 Enhanced Actinide Removal Plant (EARP) To remove activity from low and medium active iron bearing acidic liquid waste streams from reprocessing operations Waste Monitoring and Compaction Plant (WAMAC) - Compaction of low level solid wastes Waste Encapsulation Plant (WEP) Intermediate level waste arising from Thorp

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12 60 years of UK experience in the Nuclear Power life cycle!

13 The UK National Nuclear Laboratory Formerly the R&D division of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. NNL established by Secretary of State in Ownership Owned by UK Government; Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Operated as a fully commercial Government owned, Government operated (GOGO) organisation. Key Facts about the NNL 1) Around 780 staff - Over 60% of whom have science or engineering degrees / PhDs on six sites across the UK. 2) Annual turnover of around 86M. 3) We operate as a commercial business. 4) No direct funding grant from UK Government.

14 Six Locations Across the UK NNL Facilities Harwell Workington Sellafield Springfields Risley Stonehouse Harwell Non Active Facilities Active Facilities Page 14

15 NNL supports all nuclear programmes Continued operation of existing reactors & fuel cycle facilities (fuel fabrication, reprocessing) Legacy waste management / decommissioning New nuclear build Geological disposal Plutonium stockpile disposition Naval propulsion support Advanced reactor & fuel cycles Space propulsion systems Security, non-proliferation & safeguards NNL acts as a Technical Support Organisation (TSO) for nuclear build, site operations, plant life extension and waste management and disposal

16 At the Heart of Nuclear R&D Academia and SMEs Strategic UK Nuclear Universities Industry Hub-Node National Nuclear Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory International Nodes Manchester ANSTO CEA NNL Parents UK National Labs / industry Oak Ridge National Laboratory UCLan Academic Nodes NNL Hub Liverpool Sheffield HSL JRC International National Labs AWE Pacific NW National Laboratory Leeds UK Nodes Imperial NPL JAEA

17 Pre-operational monitoring requirements for Saligny TASKS Assessment of existing data, procedures and previous IAEA reviews Development of requirements for pre-operational monitoring

18 Low Level Waste Repository UK s principal facility for disposal of solid low level waste (LLW). Located in West Cumbria in north-west England, 500 m from the coast and 6 km south of the Sellafield reprocessing site. Operational since Owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and operated by Low Level Waste Repository Ltd (LLWR Ltd) Site License Company. Regulated by the Environment Agency (EA) of England and Wales by an authorisation under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993.

19 NNL work for LLWR Environmental monitoring Groundwater, gas, leachate, dust, surface waters etc Inventory and waste management Near-field assessment to support ESC Models and experimental studies Features, Events and Processes (FEPs) and conceptual model database Dose and risk assessment Development of emplacement strategies Geological conceptual and numerical modelling Use of monitoring data in supporting groundwater flow models Expert elicitation

20 Radiana; Bulgaria Low Level Waste disposal site

21 NNL work for Radiana Design and construct hydrogeological and geochemical monitoring system for the site. Define vadose and saturated zone hydrological characteristics for the site. Define baseline geochemical characteristics of pore water, ground water and soil types. Determine the distribution coefficients (K d values) for critical radionuclides on the major ground materials. Collect samples of local materials for archive purposes. Solute transport tracer tests to determine major hydrodynamic and transport parameters of the aquifer. Model hydraulic/groundwater flow in vadose zone and underlying aquifers. Develop proposals for hydrogeological monitoring programme during NDF operations.

22 Review of Spent Fuel Strategy TASKS Evaluation of dry storage of Candu fuel Evaluation of reprocessing of Candu fuel Evaluation of the option of recycling seperated Pu as MOX for CANDU Outline R&D programme

23 UK Reprocessing The quantity of UK spent fuel that has been reprocessed is Magnox Fuel Oxide Fuel Dismantled AGR 51,700 thm 7,100 thm 5,700 thm

24 UK Nuclear Fuel Cycle Position UK is pursuing an Open Fuel Cycle UK is committed to the clean-up and decommissioning of historical civil nuclear legacy and progressing radioactive waste management and disposal UK Government recognises nuclear power as a low carbon energy source, and are considering pathways that could deliver up to 75GW installed nuclear capacity by ~2050 The option for a future transition to a Closed Fuel Cycle remains

25 UK Spent Fuel Management-NDA Current strategy for spent Magnox fuel management is: Interim stored and reprocessed Reprocessing contracts expected to be complete by end 2020 Current strategy for AGR spent fuel management is: Interim stored and reprocessed Reprocessing contracts expected to be complete by end 2020 Long term stored pending geological disposal Centralised ( Away from Reactor ) storage Transition from interim to long term storage Use of existing storage infrastructure Exotic fuel will be stored pending geological disposal Consolidate fuel to centralised storage Characterisation and repacking for long term storage Preference for pond storage

26 Approach to Spent Fuel Disposal Geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste is UK Government policy. NDA is responsible for implementation Approach for GDF site selection based on voluntarism and partnership - starting with local communities expressing an interest, with no commitment Inventory of Spent Fuel for disposal is assumed to be ~ 11,200m 3 packaged volume, based on existing reactor arisings and legacy material Earliest spent fuel disposal assumed from ~2075 (Ref: Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Geological Disposal - Steps towards implementation, Executive Summary March 2010, ISBN )

27 UK Storage Challenges Scale of the storage challenge significant potential for order of magnitude increase in quantities of spent fuel Long term storage fuel and facility performance for AGR fuel High burn-up LWR fuels Mox fuel Potential for distributed storage across multiple reactor sites repackaging transportation after long term storage with loss of routine transport experience/public acceptance Retrievability of the fuel for use in a possible closed cycle

28 NNL Current Activities NNL designed and performed the Civil Pu Disposition project, for the NDA, with the overall aim to deliver feasible technical options and comprehensive information on technical, economic and sociological factors for each credible management option, to support the NDA s discussions with Government. The multi-year project had three main technical streams of investigation: Re-use as fuel in suitable reactor systems Immobilisation as a precursor to long term storage or disposal Long term storage Evaluation of AGR cladding performance Monitoring Localised sensing of AGR cladding corrosion Electro-Chemical Noise sensors for corrosive pond conditions Endoscopy/optical examination in pond storage Online corrosion monitoring SMART coupon providing a measure of local humidity, temperature, salt deposition and corrosion whilst relaying this information via a network thus allowing a proactive, real time and remote monitoring platform for the full store and its contents. Real time analysis Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, passive spectometry

29 Collaborations in Spent Fuel Management IAEA consultant advising on need for and content of the CRP on Demonstrating Performance on Spent Fuel and Related Storage System Components during Very Long Term Storage (T13014) principal investigator working on CRP on Demonstrating Performance on Spent Fuel and Related Storage System Components during Very Long Term Storage (T13014) invitee to consultancy meeting on management of decay heat EPRI Enhance Storage Collaboration Programme member of Stress Corrosion Cracking and International sub-committees also contributing to instrumentation development for full scale demonstration trial Collaboration with US national laboratories and universities on dry storage R&D IRP proposal submitted from Virginia Commonwealth University, titled Robotic Inspection and Computer Assisted Virtual Environment (RICAVE) Innovative sensors and Delivery Devices for Used Nuclear Fuel Dry Cask Storage, in response to DOE Proposal Solicitation DE-FOA for Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research. IRP proposal submitted by Dr. Field from Washington State University, titled FHD/Vacuum Drying of Used Nuclear Fuel (IRP-FC-2), in response to DOE Proposal Solicitation DE-FOA for Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research. Collaboration in EU activities the development of Nugenia Projects on severe accident progression in spent fuel storage pools & extending lifetime of dry storage Associated group in FIRST NUCLIDES project on fuel disposal

30 Summary UK has a long track record in nuclear power and the associated waste management NNL current research and programmes complement well the requirements in Romania