Safeguarded fabrication and reprocessing (SAFAR)

This report describes a design concept for meeting most NRC and IAEA safeguards goals while reprocessing irradiated fuels and fabricating plutonium-bearing fuels in a commercially viable facility. The SAFAR (Safeguarded Fabrication and Reprocessing) concept includes a modified Purex flowsheet for fuel reprocessing and a Sphere Pac process for fuel fabrication in an integrated facility. The Purex process is modified so that plutonium moves through the system in essentially plug flow, permitting a plutonium inventory to be made with only a few hours lost production. In the Sphere Pac process, sized (U,Pu)O/sub 2/ spheres are made remotely with a continuous gelation process. The calcined and sintered spheres are then loaded remotely into the fuel rods. Significant safeguards features include (1) a practical way to inventory plutonium every 15 days, (2) a LEMUF (limit of error in material unaccounted for) of 0.7 percent over a 15-day period or 0.35 percent over a six-month period, (3) isolation of plutonium behind massive shielding walls when not sealed within massive containers for transport, and (4) assumed control of the movement of people under both routine and abnormal conditions. One NRC goal would not be met. Reducing the plutonium LEMUF to 2 kilograms over a one-yearmore » period would require measurement accuracies more than an order of magnitude better than that attained by the National Bureau of Standards when preparing plutonium standards. All other identified NRC and IAEA goals were met. It is estimated that the features provided for improved safeguards would increase unit cost no more than ten percent.« less