Spent Nuclear Fuel Disposal and Recycling Process and Its Operational Experience

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing an advanced spent fuel conditioning process (ACP) to reduce the volume of spent fuel, and the construction of an ACP facility (ACPF) for a demonstration of its technical feasibility has been completed. In 2006 two inactive demonstrations were performed with simulated fuels in the ACPF. Accompanied by process equipment performance tests, its remote operability and maintainability were also tested during that time. Procedures for remote operation tasks are addressed well in this study and evaluated thoroughly. Also, remote maintenance and repair tasks are addressed regarding some important modules with a high priority order. The above remote handling test´s results provided a lot of information such as items to be revised to improve the efficiency of the remote handling tasks. This paper deals with the current status of the ACP in Korea and the progress for remote handling in the ACPF.