LAB-SCALE DEMONSTRATION OF THE UREX+ PROCESS *

The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, is developing advanced technologies to safely and economically reduce the volume and heat generation of material requiring geologic disposition, thereby extending the capacity of the Yucca Mountain repository and delaying or avoiding the need for a second repository. An important element of this initiative is the separation of key radionuclides followed by superior waste-disposal forms and/or transmutation of long-lived isotopes. To that end, the AFCI is developing advanced fuel reprocessing systems that separate key radionuclides from spent fuel. One of these systems is the UREX+ process.