The kinetics of new reprocessing routes for nuclear fuel

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The UK's used nuclear fuel will be sent to a GDF (geological disposal facility) although this is not due to open until around 2075. Until the GDF opens, UK used fuel will be held in interim wet storage in ponds at Sellafield. Fuel cladding (a steel sheath encasing the uranium dioxide fuel pellets) can be breached due to corrosion or damaged during dismantling. Evolution of both the steel cladding & the uranium dioxide surfaces upon consequent exposure to pond water can be considered as corrosion processes and so conveniently studied by electrochemical methods. Using novel fuel simulants (SIMFUELs), we have conducted preliminary electrochemical studies on coupled SIMFUEL-steel samples in pond buffer and found that they may interact in a manner that might promote uranium dioxide corrosion. This suggests that both cladding and pellets of UK used fuel are corroding during wet storage.This project, a collaboration between Lancaster, Manchester's Dalton Cumbrian Facility (DCF) and the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), aims to develop novel approaches for the early stage detection of conditions conducive to the corrosion of the steel cladding of UK spent fuel during pond storage.