RENUW - A dry halide process for nuclear fuel reprocessing

The RENUW Dry Halide Process for reprocessing nuclear fuel will be described. Analysis has shown that the RENUW process will significantly reduce the waste produces from processing irradiated nuclear fuel compared to aqueous processes. Waste reduction is accomplished by recovering the zirconium and uranium for reuse. The RENUW process uses hot chlorine gas to chlorinate the feed; separation is accomplished by exploiting the large differences between the relative volatilities of the fission products and the uranium and zirconium. The flow sheet is quite simple and uses readily commercial technologies.