Descrizione del progetto
Un’innovativa strategia per il riciclaggio di combustibile nucleare
Il riciclaggio multiplo nei reattori ad acqua leggera può migliorare ulteriormente l’economia circolare e accelerare il progresso nei confronti della chiusura del ciclo del combustibile. Tuttavia, questa opzione presenta numerose lacune, che potrebbero potenzialmente essere superate mediante l’introduzione del promettente reattore a sali fusi a spettro veloce che si avvale di sali di cloruro che fungono sia da refrigerante che da combustibile. Questo tipo di reattore nucleare non è stato ancora esaminato e testato in condizioni reali. Al fine di affrontare tale questione, il progetto MIMOSA, finanziato dall’UE, intende sviluppare una strategia di riciclaggio multiplo per i combustibili esauriti dei reattori ad acqua leggera basandosi sui reattori a sali fusi e sulle infrastrutture europee esistenti e successivamente paragonarla ad altre strategie. Per accelerare il dispiego di reattori a sali fusi, il progetto dimostrerà inoltre aspetti chiave della loro fattibilità tecnica e delle loro prestazioni.
Obiettivo
Multi-recycling in LWRs is a tangible solution enhancing further the circular economy and moving towards the closure of the fuel cycle. However, this option presents some limitations related to the degradation of the Pu isotopic composition and the generation of minor actinides (MA), leading to an increase of vitrified high-level waste when compared to multi-recycling with FRs, thus limiting its benefits from a repository footprint perspective.
Significant improvement in converting all the Pu isotopes and MA into fission products with shorter half-lives can be achieved with the introduction of advanced reactor systems, among which the molten salt reactor (MSR) using Chloride salt is particularly promising. In this reactor, the fuel is a fluid, eliminating the major technological bottlenecks of refabrication of solid fuels with high transuranic content.
There is no experience of Chloride MSRs (Cl MSR) in operation, but it was studied and tested on experimental set-ups, showing a great improvement in the conversion rate of actinides.
For these reasons, MIMOSA aims to develop an accessible, cost/risk optimised multi-recycling strategy of LWR spent fuels, based primarily on multi-recycling of Pu (and REPU) in LWRs combined with the Cl MSR, and using already available infrastructure in the EU such as the French reprocessing plant, not only for its existing LWR fuel treatment capabilities, but also for its Pu partitioning and waste conditioning capabilities, its compatibility with chloride salts, and in the future, for its potential additional capabilities in MA separation and salt management. This strategy will also be compared with other multi-recycling scenarios.
MIMOSA focus more specifically on the demonstration of several key aspects of technical feasibility and performance of Cl MSRs, that will contribute to accelerating the deployment of this advanced technology, on Pu and MA conversion respectively and on production of valuable isotopes for other applications
Campo scientifico
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EURATOM-RIA - EURATOM Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinatore
92320 Chatillon
Francia