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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Argonne research aims to improve nuclear fuel recycling and metal recovery
Servis
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are investigating a used nuclear fuel recycling technology that could lead to a scaled-down and more efficient approach to metal recovery, according to a recent news article from the lab. The research, led by Argonne radiochemist Anna Servis with funding from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), could have an impact beyond the nuclear fuel cycle and improve other high-value metal processing, such as rare earth recovery, according to Argonne.
The research: Servis’s work is being carried out under ARPA-E’s CURIE (Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy) program. The specific project—Radioisotope Capture Intensification Using Rotating Packed Bed Contactors—started in 2023 and is scheduled to end in January 2026.
Jae-Yoo Choi, Masoomeh Ghasemi, Min-Ho Chang, Hyunchul Ju
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 6 | August 2020 | Pages 739-748
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1777672
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this study, a three-dimensional transient metal hydride model is applied to two different depleted uranium (DU) bed designs. One bed is designed to contain 1.86 kg DU for a hydrogen isotope storage capacity of 70 g, and it is loaded with copper foam to enhance internal heat transfer. The other bed is designed to contain 5.26 kg DU for a hydrogen isotope storage capacity of 200 g, and it uses copper fins to enhance internal heat transfer. A numerical study is conducted to analyze the dehydriding characteristics of two different DU bed designs. A parallel computing methodology is used to effectively reduce the computational turnaround time involved for full-scale DU bed geometries. The detailed simulation results show the evolution of temperature and hydrogen-to-metal atomic ratio contours at different hydrogen desorption stages and reveal the different DU dehydriding behaviors of the two DU beds. In sum, the present work elucidates the effects of key bed design parameters and helps identify optimal DU bed design strategies to effectively charge and discharge hydrogen isotopes.