Development of an integrated process simulation system model for spent fuel treatment facility (SFTF) design

Major issues concerning nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain are that of safety and long term disposal. Approximately one percent of the content of spent nuclear fuel is that which is responsible for nearly all the long-term associated health risks. The removal and transmutation of this content will render the toxicity of the remaining waste to that of natural uranium within a few hundred years. The research contained in this thesis details several simulations that are involved in the overall removal process. The first objective was to test the feasibility of the design of a distillation column that will separate an acid waste stream used in a recycle loop used throughout the spent fuel treatment facility. The second objective was to design an ASPEN PLUS model that will simulate the plutonium metal production process used in the spent nuclear fuel recycling processes.