| Abstract Scope |
Nuclear fuel reprocessing involves complex processes that require high reliability and efficiency. High-fidelity modeling can play a critical role in understanding and optimizing the many steps required to process spent nuclear fuel into a final waste form. The Athena Resources and Tools Enabling Model Integration & Simulations (ARTEMIS) project, developed as part of the Athena project sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration Nonproliferation Stewardship Program (NSP), aims to create integrated models spanning atomistic to engineering scales to comprehensively evaluate these processes. The modeling tools selected must be rigorously validated and widely accessible to provide maximum value to the research community. For example, we are developing an off-gas model using the Catalysis And Treatment Simulations (CATS) application of the Multi-physics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) framework. During nuclear fuel reprocessing, gas-phase fission products are released from the fuel pellets at nearly every step of the process, many of which must be captured to prevent environmental release. High-fidelity modeling can assist in optimizing column design, material selection, and evaluating abnormal or transient operating conditions. As an initial test case the model has been applied to Xe and Kr adsorption in an AgZ-PAN column. The model and codebases were validated against Xe and Kr breakthrough curves obtained from benchtop experiments at Idaho National Laboratory, which covered a range of temperatures, flow rates, and inlet gas concentrations. Presented are our initial results to predict the Xe/Kr behavior, which shows strong agreement with the experimental data. |