NEM141

Introduction to Nuclear Engineering

Ch. 5. Nuclear Fuel Cycle

5.1. Front End of Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Instructor: H. Okan Zabunoğlu (Prof.Dr.)

Hacettepe University
Department of Nuclear Engineering

2021-2022 Spring
 Lecture Notes 5. Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC) encompasses all the processes starting from the
exploration and mining of uranium through the management of Spent Fuel (SF)
and wastes.
It can be visioned in two main parts:
1. Front end, which covers the processes taking place before fresh fuel is loaded
to NR (before-reactor part of NFC).
2. Back end, which covers the processes taking place after spent fuel is removed
from NR (after-reactor part of NFC).

Lecture Notes 5.1. Front End of Nuclear Fuel Cycle

As you know, the only natural, fissile isotope is U-235. That is why the first step in
NFC is exploration, mining and milling of U. The product of milling is “yellow
cake”, which is, in general, an intermediate oxide compound, U3O8. The yellow
cake is sent to the refinery, where it is purified and converted to the desired form.
In case of LWRs, it is necessary to enrich U, that is, to increase its fissile (U-235)
content. The enrichment process is based on a gaseous working fluid, which
requires conversion to uranium hexafluoride (UF6) because UF6 is the only stable,
volatile compound of U. Volatile means “easy to vaporize, thus be obtained in the
gaseous phase”.
See the following visuals to have a better view on what is going. 2
 Important isotopes in nuclear energy production
Uranium (U) Plutonium (Pu) Thorium (Th)
U-235 (fissile, natural Pu-239 (fissile, unnatural) Th-232 (fertile, natural)
U-238 (fertile, natural) Pu-241 (fissile, unnatural)

U-233 (fissile, unnatural)

Uranium: Natural U contains nearly 0.7 w/o (weight percent) U-235 and 99.3 w/o U-238.a
U-235: Only natural, fissile isotope.
U-238: Natural, fertile; it is converted to Pu-239 in nuclear reactors.
U-233: Unnatural, fissile; it can be formed from Th-232 in nuclear reactors.

Plutonium: It does not exist in nature.

Pu-239: An important fissile isotope formed from U-238 in nuclear reactors.
Pu-241: A relatively less important isotope formed from Pu-239 in nuclear reactors.b

Thorium: Natural Th contains about 100 w/o Th-232.

Th-232: Fertile; it can be converted to U-233 in nuclear reactors.
a Innatural U, there is also U-234 isotope in trace amount.
b Pu-241 is relatively less important than Pu-239 because it is formed in smaller amounts.
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 Front End of Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Uranium Production Refinery

• Mining (removing ore) • Purification
• Milling (grinding, concentrating, • Conversion (to UF6)
producing yellow cake; U3O8) [For CANDU, it is converted to UO2
and directly sent to fabrication]

Fuel Fabrication
• Forming fuel pellets Enrichment
• Producing fuel rods and assemblies

Nuclear Reactor (LWR)

Some Uranium Minerals

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Some Thorium Minerals: Monazite – Thorite - Vicanite

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Highly Enriched Uranium Disc Plutonium Ring

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Yellow Cake (Kazakhstan)

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Yellow Cake

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 Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6)

The enrichment process is based on a gaseous working fluid, which requires

conversion of yellow cake to uranium hexafluoride (UF6) because UF6 is the
only stable, volatile compound of U. At room temperature and atmospheric
pressure, UF6 is a white solid; however, a slight increase in temperature or a
decrease in pressure causes it to sublime (i.e., directly to pass from solid
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phase to gas).
 Natural Uranium and Fresh Fuel (LWR)
(w/o : weight percent)

Natural U Fresh Fuel

U-235 (3.3 w/o)
U-235 (0.7 w/o) U-238 (96.7 w/o)

The fresh fuel enrichment of 3.3 w/o is for a textbook-reference LWR. In practice
today, higher enrichments are used, and higher burnups are reached.
 Uranium Enrichment
As seen in the previous picture, it is required to increase the U-235 fraction of
natural U to at least about 3 w/o before the fuel fabrication to manufacture fuel
for LWRs. This is known as enrichment of U.

The only commercial U enrichment method today is Gas Centrifuge (GC),

which is based on the fact that, in a rotating cylinder, the heavier molecules are
pushed more toward the periphery than the lighter ones.

Over the years until recently, Gaseous Diffusion (GD) was also used for U
enrichment, which is based on the fact that the lighter molecules (235UF6)
diffuse through a porous barrier at a higher rate than the heavier molecules
(238UF6).

Because the difference in the molecular weights of 235UF6 and 238UF6 is very
small, in a single stage (or in a piece of equipment), only a very small amount
of increase in the U-235 fraction can be achieved. That is why, in the
enrichment plants, a cascade arrangement of very many stages is in order. See
the pictures following.

In Lecture Notes 5.3, we will look at the enrichment process more closely,
discussing the mass balance and deriving the basic equations needed. 12
 U Enrichment – Gaseous Diffusion (GD)

The feed is natural UF6 (at a pressure of 2-3 kPa to 200-300 kPa, depending on the
operational temperature). It is slightly more likely for 235UF6 to pass through the
barrier; so, on the other side of the barrier, its fraction gets a little higher than that in
the feed. Yet, the increase in 235UF6 fraction is so small in a single stage that many
stages are needed to achieve a meaningful enrichment. See the cascade
arrangement of stages in the following visuals. 13
U Enrichment - Gaseous Diffusion (RK-25 Oak Ridge - GD)

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U Enrichment - Gaseous Diffusion (Portsmouth-Ohio)

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Gaseous Diffusion. At the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Plant, uranium gas (i.e.,UF6)
is pumped through miles of pipe. The three "process buildings" are among the largest industrial
structures in the world; each is half a mile long; they operate around the clock and can together
consume in a day as much electricity as the city of Memphis, Tennessee. Piketon, Ohio. 27 July
1983. The plant was shut down in 2012.

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 Uranium Enrichment – Gas Centrifuge (GC)
Today, the gas centrifuge is the
only commercial method
employed to enrich uranium. In
the gas centrifuge process,
natural UF6 enters a rotating
cylinder near the center. Due to
the centrifugal force, the heavier
238UF molecules are pushed
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more to the perimeter and
extracted from there, while the
lighter 235UF6 molecules tend to
stay near the center. Again, the
enrichment obtained in a single
stage is quite small (though,
higher than that in GD) and that is
why many stages are used in
series and parallel arrangements,
as can be seen in the visuals to 17
follow.
Gas Centrifuge (Urenco – Europe and USA)

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U Enrichment - Gas Centrifuge (Piketon-Ohio; 1980s, terminated)

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 Gas Centrifuge (Russia)

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Russian centrifuges typical layout in the shop. Source: (Pavlov, 2008).
 Enriched UF6 - Urenco GC Plant (NM-US)

Enriched UF6 (the product enriched to the desired U-235 content) is transported
to the fuel fabrication plant.
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 Depleted UF6 Cylinders in Storage

Depleted UF6, which contains a smaller fraction of 235UF than that of natural
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UF6, is stored on site usually. 22
Depleted UF6 Cylinders in Storage

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 Front-End of Nuclear Fuel Cycle (continuing)
The outcome of enrichment is UF6 with the desired U-235 fraction [3-5 w/o,
also known as LEU (Low Enriched U)]. The next step is fabrication. In the first
stage of the fabrication UF6 is converted to UO2. See the other steps in the
visuals following.

Uranium Production Refinery

• Mining (removing ore) • Purification
• Milling (grinding, concentrating, • Conversion (to UF6)
producing yellow cake; U3O8) [For CANDU, it is converted to UO2
and directly sent to fabrication]

Fuel Fabrication
• Forming fuel pellets Enrichment
• Producing fuel rods and assemblies

Nuclear Reactor (LWR)

 Nuclear Fuel Pellets
The chemical form of fuel is UO2, with an enrichment of 3 to 5 w/o (weight
percent). First, the sintered fuel pellets (small cylinders, slightly thinner
than the upper part of our little finger) are produced; then, the pellets are
filled into Zircaloy (a Zr alloy) tubes to obtain fuel rods.

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Nuclear Fuel Rods

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Nuclear Fuel Assembly (Western PWR)

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 Fuel Rods and Assemblies (Western PWR)

In a PWR, the fuel rod is about 3.8 m in length. The fuel rods are formed into 17x17
square assemblies (14x14 … etc. are also possible). In a PWR core, there are
120 - 240 assemblies, thus 25000 – 50000 fuel rods (depending on the power). Core
inventory for a typical 1000-MWe PWR is about 90 tons UO2.
Western PWR Core

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Western PWR Core
 Fuel Rods and Assemblies (VVER = Russian PWR)

Fuel rods in a VVER are about of the

same size as those in a Western PWR.
However, VVER fuel assemblies are
hexagonal. A VVER-1200 assembly has
312 fuel rods containing about 5 w/o
enriched UO2. There are 163 fuel
assemblies in the core, adding up to
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roughly 50000 fuel rods.
Fuel Rods and Assembly (VVER-1200, Akkuyu)

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VVER Core

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Depending on the reactor type, power, and the fuel management strategy; a
certain amount of fuel in the core is removed as spent fuel and replaced by
fresh fuel. This is called “refueling”. The time period between refuelings is
normally 12 months. The fuel residence time is 3 or 4 years. Usually
one-third or one-fourth of the fuel inventory is replaced by fresh fuel in each
refueling. Up to 20-month long operation without refueling is also possible.

All the processes mentioned so far are included in the front end of the nuclear
fuel cycle. Once the spent fuel is removed from the reactor, the back end of
the nuclear fuel cycle starts. The first step in the back end is always storage
of the spent fuel in water pools near the reactor (on site).

So much for the front end; next time in Lecture Notes 5.2, we will cover the
back end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

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