Feasibility Study on the Development of Alternative Methods for the Treatment of TRISO Fuels

In this study, conventional head-end processes of spent TRISO fuel have been reviewed to develope more effective treatment methods. The main concerns in the TRISO treatment are to effectively separate the carbon and SiC contained in the TRISO particles. The crush-burn scheme which was considered in the early stages of the development has been replaced by the crush-leach process because of $^{14}C$ problems as a second waste during the process. However there are still many obstacles to overcome in the reported processes. Hence, innovative thermomechanical concepts to breach the coating layers of the TRISO particle with a minimized amount of second waste are proposed in this paper and their principles are described in detail.