Design study of mechanical disassembly system for FBR fuel reprocessing

Toya, Yuichi; Washiya, Tadahiro ; Koizumi, Kenji ; Morita, Shinichi

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been leading feasibility study on commercialized fast reactor cycle systems in Japan. In this study, we have proposed a new disassembly technology by mechanical disassembly system that consists of a mechanical cutting step and a wrapper tube pulling step. In the mechanical tool system, high durability mechanical cutter cuts the wrapper tube (Slit-Cut (S/C) operation in circle direction), and then the wrapper tube is pulled out and removed from the fuel assembly. Then the fuel pins are cut (Crop-Cut (C/C) operation at entrance nozzle side) and the entrance nozzle is removed. The fuel pins are transported to the shearing machine in next process. The Fundamental tests were carried out with simulated FBR fuel pins and wrapper tube, and cutting performance and wrapper tube pulling performance has been confirmed by engineering scale. As the results, we established the disassembly procedure and the fundamental design of mechanical disassembly system.