Graphite Core Dismantling for Minimising Graphite Waste Volume

石墨芯拆卸以最大限度地减少石墨废物量

• 批准号: 2905616
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2905616
• 关键词: Graphite; Core; Dismantling; Minimising; Waste

The current baseline strategy for the UK AGR and Magnox reactors includes whole brick retrieval followed by basic treatment and grouting inthe specified package. Whole brick retrieval is possible for Magnox reactors where no cracks have been observed but the engineering tools will have to take into consideration the metallic components that are included in the core structure. AGR cores are expected to have a significant number of multiply cracked bricks and hence development of additional engineering solutions will be required. Even if whole brick retrieval is achievable and it is followed by some crushing for packaging, this option does not result in the optimum packaged waste volume.The objective of this project is to explore the Nibble and Vacuum technique for retrieving the core graphite. Although it is a widely used technique and has been previously proposed for graphite, the TRL is low, and is limited to basic concept studies; in addition, Nibble and Vac has not been tried on core graphite. The aim will be to identify the optimum parameters, potential issues either related to the engineering implementation or to the safety case. The result of this dismantling method is crushed graphite that can then be readily used for waste minimisation methods, such as bulk oxidation or HIP. Significant work has been completed on the former by UoM so this work will focus on the latter with studies on the Nibble and Vacuum methodology to enable industrial scale up. The research will include a feasibility study, safety case assessment and optimisation of HIP as a treatment method for irradiated graphite. If successful, HIP and subsequent leaching studies will be performed on irradiated graphite. Characterisation of the graphite and its properties will be undertaken before HIPing in order to understand this effect on the HIP process. The optimum achievable volume minimisation method will be established followed by leaching tests on the HIPed graphite to determine its efficiency as an immobilisation method.

目前英国AGR和Magnox反应器的基线策略包括整个砖回收，然后在指定的包中进行基本处理和灌浆。对于没有观察到裂缝的磁诺克斯反应堆，整个砖回收是可能的，但工程工具必须考虑到核心结构中包含的金属成分。预计AGR堆芯将有大量的多重裂纹砖，因此需要开发额外的工程解决方案。即使整个砖回收是可以实现的，然后是一些粉碎包装，这个选项不会导致最佳的包装废物量。本项目的目的是探索蚕食和真空技术回收芯石墨。虽然这是一种广泛使用的技术，并且以前已经提出石墨，TRL很低，并且仅限于基本概念研究；此外，Nibble和Vac还没有在芯石墨上试验过。目的是确定最佳参数，以及与工程实施或安全案例相关的潜在问题。这种拆解方法的结果是粉碎石墨，然后可以很容易地用于废物最小化方法，如大块氧化或HIP。UoM在前者方面已经完成了重要的工作，因此这项工作将集中在后者，研究Nibble和Vacuum方法，以实现工业规模的扩大。该研究将包括可行性研究、安全案例评估和HIP作为辐照石墨处理方法的优化。如果成功，HIP和随后的浸出研究将在辐照石墨上进行。石墨及其性质的表征将在热压前进行，以便了解这种影响对热压过程的影响。将建立可实现的最佳体积最小化方法，然后对HIPed石墨进行浸出试验，以确定其作为固定方法的效率。