ML20044A973
| ML20044A973 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/10/1990 |
| From: | Haughney C NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Cunningham R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| References | |
| REF-PROJ-M-45 NUDOCS 9007170108 | |
| Download: ML20044A973 (4) | |
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4 July 10, 1990 h[W MF.MORANDUMN N chard E. Cunningham Director f'-
'r. vision of Industrial and-
.3
' Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS s
FROM:
Charles J. Haughney, Chief Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of. Industrial and:
1 Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS i
SUBJECT:
FOREIGN TRAVEL TRIP REPORT-1 Attached are'a Trip Report-Abstract and a more detailed trip report j
covering the visit by Peter Loysen and ntyself on. June 1,1990, to the Cogema UF defluorination plant at Pierrelatte, France.
Separate reports are being 6
prepared for the NRC team visit to the Urenco gas centrifuge uranium enrichment plants in Almelo, the Netherlands; Gronau, West Germany; and Capenburst, England.
Original Signed By Charles J. Haughney, Chief Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and 1
Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS
Enclosures:
'As stated cc:
.H.. Thompson, EDO -
R.'Bernero-
-G. Arlotto G. Sjob_lom R. Burnett-R. Bangart-H. Denton,-GPA J. Shea, GPA-
.R.,Brady.. ADM W. Fisher, RIV DISTRIBUITON:,
BCJ UeaEenter.+
Project M-45 H
NMSS R/F PDR' IMSB R/F IMAF R/F PLoysen
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TRIP REPORT ABSTRACT A
DATE OF REPORT o
July 3 1990 0FFICIAL~ TRAVELLERS:-
TRAVEL T0:
Pierrelatte, France 1
Charles J. Haughney a
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. Peter Loysen BEGINNING ON:
05/30/90 OFFICE:
NHSS.
UNTIL:
'06/1/90-Pm Division of Industrial and i
Medica 1LNuclear Safety
- Fuel Cycle-Safety Branch s a sss 4
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. MEETING 4 TITLE AND/0R AFFILIATION:
discussions on! health,. safety, and envirbn) mental issues with plant and VisittoCogema'uraniumhexafluoride(UF tails defluorination plant and n
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L, engineering management.
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ORGANIZED BY:
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9 NRC, Numatec,;Inc., and Cogema. Inc.
j ABSTRACT AND/0R
SUMMARY
OF MEETING RESULTS:.
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On-June'1,.1990, C. J. Haughney and P. Loysen visitedzthe cogema UF
';tailsdefluorinationplant: located =inPierrelatte, France. Theplabt'is l:
. part' of a' large fuel cycle ~ center:at.which France's uranium enrichment' j
. activities take' place.o The purpose of the visit was to gain some o
' familiarity fwith the defluorination process in the context of-its possible.use by future NRC licensees in.the United : States. The plant,
. hich.was-conmissioned.because of. the French Ministry of Industry's.
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., limitation on the quantity of-UFE tails that canlbe stored at the.
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? Pierrelatte site, converts-UF ihto U~0 for safer storage and reuse in.
Ls dueLtime,andinto~HF'solutiobfor.cuhrbntcommercialuse, s
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' J After aibriefing _on 'the develo) ment of the Pierrelatte site, including othe:defluorination ?lant, whic1 has been operating since'1984, Cogema
- We conducted a thoroug1 tour of~the' plant and the U 0 storage building.
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Safety and environmental problems appeared to be minimal and under -
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p control as the! result ofzexperience gained and modifications made over-1 L
- time; - Additional capacity and process' im,soven.ents are being undertaken 7
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.so as to increase capability for defluorination of site. generated UF 6
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~ tails;as well.as tails of other uranium enrichers.
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TRIP REPORT l
VISIT TO.
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COGEMA UF TAILS DEFLOORINATION PLANT 6
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PIERRELATTE, FRANCE JUNE 1, 1990
SUMMARY
4 On June 1, 1990,,C. J. Haughney and P. Loysen visited the Cogema UFe tails defluorination plant located in Pierrelatte, France.
The plant is part of a
^
1arge fuel cycle center at which France's uranium enrichment aethities take place.
The purpose of the visit was to gain some familiarity with the
^
defluorination process in the context of its possible use by future licensees in the United States.
The plant, which was commissioned because of the French
' Ministry of Industry's limitation on' the quantity of UFe tails that can be i !
stored at-the Pierrelatte site, converts UFe into U 0s for safer storage and 3
reuse.in due. time, and into HF. solution for current commercial use.
Aftcr a briefing on the development of the Pierrelatte site, including the defluorination plant, which has been operating since 1984, Cogema conducted a thorough tour of the plant and the U 0s storage building.
Safety and 3
environmental problems appeared to be minimal and under control.as the result of experience gained and modifications.made over. time.
Additional capacity.
and process improvements are being undertaken so as to. increase capability for defluorination of site generated UFe tails as well a's tails of other-uranium enrichers.
DISCUSSION Messrs. R. Afettouche and C. Pichat.of USSI, engineers and designers-of the
- defluorination plant, met us at-the hotel in Pierrelatte and escorted us to the Pierrelatte site. We were then introduced to Mr. Viroulet, Mr. C. Saintouil, Ms. I. Carso1, and Dr. M. Micha11et, Cogema's General Manager for the Pierrelatte site, who took us to the visitors' center for briefing.
Dr. Michallet described the fuel-cycle activities and the companies who conduct thein at the Pierrelatte 1
site, focussing on the defluorination pt.
He also showed a film, "le Tricastin," which further aided in ur.derstanding~the range of activities, including UFs. conversion, enrichment,. fuel fabrication, tails defluorination, transformation of reprocessed uranium, cask maintenance, and laser enrichment research and development, carried out at the site.
Dr. Michallet explained that the French Ministry of-Industry, which regu'ates L
bot.h the Eurodif uranium enrichment plant and the Cogema defluorination plant, has' imposed a license condition on Eurodif which limits to 200,000 tonnes the quantity of UFs tails that may be stored at the Pierrelatte sit <.
He did not explain the basis for-this limitation, however.
Aside from the limit, the
- defluorination plant serves the purpose of creating a stable product (U 0s) 3 that is environmentally sound, en be stored compactly by stacking containers L
in an ordinary warehouse, and may be reused as blanket material for breeder L
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COGEMA TRIP REPORT.
reactors or. feed for laser enrichment in due time.. Furthermore, the HF solution produced as a byproduct of defluorination is scid commercially..In fact, Cogema' supplies one-third of the total French requirements for-HF solution from the plant.
It is not reused at the site, however, inasmuch as
(
anhydrous HF is ' required.
I The process employed in the defluorination plant is straightforward.
UFe is vaporized from cylinders within autoclaves and fed into one of two rotary 1
reaction furnaces with steam.
Hydrolysis to 00 F at 300 C occurs in the 2
first section and pyrohydrolysis to Va0s at 750*C occurs'in the second-k,
.section.
Use of inconel and haste 11oy and improved seal materials in the furnaces.have eliminated leakage problems caused by the corrosive chemical cohpounds, The Va08 product is then roller compacted and discharged into T
8-tonne steel storage containers.
HF is condansed in a separate part of the plant.
Capacities of the plant are 7000 Lonnes per year of U 0s, with a 3
specification of <3% UO F22 and <0.4% F, and 4300 tonnes per year of 70% HF solution, with a specification of. <3 PPM uranium.
In addition, the plant has a capacity of 1500 tonnes per year of potassium fluoride (no specification provided). Waste streams from the plant are processed at other facilities on the Pierrelatte site, and thus are not part of the defluorination plant operations.
USSI is currently engineering a doubling of plant capacities, using a new type of HF pump and pneumatic, rather than mechanical, transfer of U 0s.
The increased capacities are needed to work of f more of the backlog of 3
Eurodif tails and the tails of other uranium enrichers.
Dr. Micha11et volunteered that the mean price of defluorination in the plant
'is_$2 to $2.50 per kilogram of uranium. Whit a it.is not clear what costs are
' included or excluded.in this price, we have calculated that it represents roughly a similar value, expressed in percent, of the selling price of enrichment services.
In other words, $2.50 per kilogram of uranium tails is about 2.5 percent of the selling price por kilogram of low' enriched uranium product. We do not speculate on the price of defluod nation for a new plant in_the United States.
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hDATE 07/04/90 07/k/90 07/#f/90 9 10 do OFFICIAL RECORD COPf' l I*
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