NDLI: The PBMR Fuel Plant: Proven Technology in Advanced Safety Environment

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Bra¨hler, Georg Froschauer, K. Welbers, P. Boyes, D.
Copyright Year	2008
Abstract	The PBMR Fuel Plant (PFP), to be constructed at the Pelindaba site near Johannesburg will fuel the first South African Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. The qualification of the PBMR fuel shall be based on past experience with fuel which was produced in the German NUKEM/HOBEG plant and irradiated in the German AVR reactor. Accordingly, the PFP must produce the same fuel as the German plant did, and consequently, the design of the PFP has in essence to be a copy of the NUKEM/HOBEG plant. As a reminder this plant had been operated in accordance with the German regulatory rules which were defined in the years 1970/80. Since then, the requirements with regard to radiological protection, criticality safety and emission control have been significantly tightened, and of course the PFP must be designed in accordance with the most advanced international norms and standards. The implications which follow from these two potentially conflicting requirements, as defined above, are highlighted, and technical solutions are presented. Hence, the change from administrative criticality safety control to technical control, i.e. the application of safe geometry as far as possible, and the introduction of technical solutions for the remaining safe mass regime will be described. A lot of equipment in the Kernel area and in the recycling areas needed to be redesigned in safe geometry. The sensitive processes for Kernel Calcining, for the Coating and the Overcoating remain under safe mass regime, but the safety against criticality is completely independent from staff activities and based on technical measures. A new concept for safe storage of large volumes of Uranium-containing liquids has been developed. Also, the change from relatively open handling of Uranium to the application of containment enclosures wherever release of radioactivity into the room atmosphere is possible, will be addressed. This change required redesign of all process steps requiring the handling of dry Uranium oxides and uncoated Kernels. Finally, the introduction of processes for the near-total recycling of Uranium and chemicals, as well as for decontamination and purification of liquid and gaseous effluents will be presented. These processes were not available from NUKEM/HOBEG fuel facility and needed to be developed now, also following the above mentioned requirements, with respect to criticality safety and radiological protection.
Starting Page	223
Ending Page	230
Page Count	8
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9780791848548
DOI	10.1115/HTR2008-58060
e-ISBN	9780791838341
Volume Number	Fourth International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology, Volume 1
Conference Proceedings	Fourth International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology
Language	English
Publisher Date	2008-09-28
Publisher Place	Washington, DC, USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Air pollution control Roasting (metallurgy) Fuels Coatings Geometry Design Uranium Storage Decontamination Safety Recycling Coating processes Containment Radioactivity
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Libarray of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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