Decommissioning, Immobilisation and Storage
soluTIons for NuClear wasTe InVEntories
DISTINCTIVE is a multi-disciplinary collaboration of 10 universities and 3 key industry partners from across the UK’s civil nuclear sector.
This theme addresses the UK’s spent nuclear fuel inventory, and the preferred options for disposal. This includes the retrieval of fuel from current storage facilities and the repackaging options available.
The theme is concerned with Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor (AGR), Magnox and other so-called ‘Exotic’ spent fuels, and its goal is to increase knowledge and mechanistic understanding of the processes involved during management.
Work Packages
Theme Objectives
A Life Cycle Approach as a decision tool for nuclear waste management and decommissioning of existing and future plants
This PhD-level project will develop a full life cycle assessment including all stages in the life cycle of decommissioning and waste management of both existing and future plants…
An investigation of wasteform evolution during wet-recovery and drying of SNF
The project will investigate the physiochemical changes occurring in SNF fuels – specifically uranium metals and exotics – during recovery from aqueous storage, forced drying and repackaging in an ‘open’ but nominally dry engineered containment system…
Determination of optimum drying conditions for AGR fuels
The current declared lifetimes for the AGR power stations from EDF Energy will result in the generation of approximately 8,800t of AGR fuel across the whole fleet…
Grain boundary damage mechanisms in strained AGR cladding under irradiation
Second-generation Advanced Gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) make use of UO2 pellets contained in austenitic stainless steel SS 20Cr/25Ni/Nb cladding. During the service life inside the reactor, the cladding undergoes significant…
Options for Exotic Carbide Fuels.
The UKs inventory of exotic fuels includes some carbides for which no waste management decision has been made. This project will build on the capability…
UO2 surface reactivity and alteration – a fundamental study of photocatalytic and structural effects related to long term storage of SNF.
UO2 surface reactivity and alteration – a fundamental study of photocatalytic and structural effects related to long term storage of SNF…
Use of TRLFS of investigate dissolution rates
LU is about to invest in state-of-the-art Time Resolved Laser Fluorescence Spectroscopy (TRLFS) for active work…
Back to Top
