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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Latest News
ANS joins others in seeking to discuss SNF/HLW impasse
The American Nuclear Society joined seven other organizations to send a letter to Energy Secretary Christopher Wright on July 8, asking to meet with him to discuss “the restoration of a highly functioning program to meet DOE’s legal responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial and legacy defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).”
Kris Dylst, John Seghers, Frank Druyts, Johan Braet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 215-218
Technical Paper | Waste Handling | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1798
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recycling beryllium used in a fusion reactor might be a good way to overcome problems related to the disposal of neutron irradiated beryllium. The critical issues for the recycling of used first wall beryllium are the presence of tritium and (transuranic) impurities. High temperature annealing seems to be the most promising technique for detritiation. Purification of the detritiated beryllium can be achieved by chlorination of the irradiated beryllium and the subsequent reduction of beryllium chloride to highly pure metallic beryllium. After that, the beryllium can be re-fabricated into first wall tiles via powder metallurgy which is already a mature industrial practice. This paper outlines the path to define the experimental needs for beryllium recycling and tackles problems related to the detritiation and the purification via the chlorine route.