ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Savannah River marks the closure of another legacy waste tank
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has received concurrence from regulators that Tank 14 at the Savannah River Site has reached preliminary cease waste removal (PCWR) status after radioactive liquid waste was successfully removed from the tank. PCWR is a regulatory milestone in the closure of SRS’s old-style waste tanks, which were built in the 1950s to store waste generated by the chemical separations of plutonium and uranium.
Yoon Il Chang, Robert W. Benedict, Matthew D. Bucknor, Javier Figueroa, Joseph E. Herceg, Terry R. Johnson, Eugene R. Koehl, Richard M. Lell, Young Soo Park, Chad L. Pope, Stanley G. Wiedmeyer, Mark A. Williamson, James L. Willit, Reid James, Steve Meyers, Bryan Spaulding, John Underdahl, Mike Wolf
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 5 | May 2019 | Pages 708-726
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1513243
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Argonne National Laboratory and Merrick & Company developed the conceptual design of a pilot-scale (100 T/year) pyroprocessing facility for the treatment of used fuel generated by commercial light water reactors and subsequent treatment of waste streams generated during the process. The primary purpose of this study was to perform sufficient engineering for the pilot facility conceptual design so that credible capital and operating cost estimates could be developed. Initial safety, safeguards, and security assessments were also completed to provide a detailed evaluation in these areas that can significantly affect both capital and operating costs. Electrorefining-based pyroprocessing resulted in a compact hot-cell facility with few process equipment systems. The process equipment and support systems were estimated to cost $93 million and the facility $305 million for a project total cost of $398 million. The annual operating cost was estimated at $53 million/year. Scaling up to a commercial-scale (400 T/year) was also evaluated and the capital cost was estimated at $911 million with annual operating cost of $90 million/year.