[Request] Reusable Nuclear Fuel Canisters

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mcvey
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[Request] Reusable Nuclear Fuel Canisters

Post by mcvey »

Simple idea really, but use a fuel canister to make fuel cells which is then regained when spent fuel is reprocessed. I'm sure this idea is nothing new, so i'm surprised there isn't a mod already. Big advantage is that it would keep iron from being consumed by a nuclear reactor past the initial setup. Although i understand that the consumption is so low that it may not be worth it.

BlakeMW
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Re: [Request] Reusable Nuclear Fuel Canisters

Post by BlakeMW »

I'm almost certain that doesn't happen IRL. The canister is kept to contain the highly radioactive used fuel. Also induced radioactivity is an issue. And a fuel assembly is not exactly just a canister, the extra material is also stuff like moderator / neutron reflector. You REALLY don't want to reuse that stuff because it's in such close contact with the blazingly radioactive used fuel.

mcvey
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Re: [Request] Reusable Nuclear Fuel Canisters

Post by mcvey »

I'm not familiar with the inner workings of reactors IRL, but why worry about radiation exposure if its just going back in the core anyway?

BlakeMW
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Re: [Request] Reusable Nuclear Fuel Canisters

Post by BlakeMW »

To further explain:
A nuclear fuel assembly looks something like this:
Image

The uranium is in the form of pellets in the fuel rods. So a lot of the non-uranium stuff is all mixed up with the uranium.

Furthermore the thing about uranium is it's not particularly radioactive before it has been put in a reactor, it's low radioactivity makes it relatively easy/safe to work with while building the fuel rods. Everything that has gone into a reactor ends up highly radioactive due to fission products and induced radioactivity, trying to reuse that stuff which has been through the reactor would make the task much more dangerous and difficult. The used fuel rods are put in a cooling pond to cool down for months or years before reprocessing can be considered, even then it's the uranium/plutonium which is the stuff which is extracted and everything else is discarded as high/intermediate level radioactive waste.

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