PROCESS COMPONENT INVENTORY IN A LARGE COMMERCIAL REPROCESSING FACILITY

Using a computer simulation program, the equilibrium operation of the Pu-extraction and purification processes of a reference commercial reprocessing facility was investigated. Particular attention was given to the long-term net fluctuations of Pu inventories in hard-to-measure components such as the solvent extraction contactors. Comparing the variance of these inventories with the measurement variance for Pu contained in feed, analysis and buffer tanks, it was concluded that direct or indirect periodic estimation of contactor inventories would not contribute significantly to improving the quality of closed material balances over the process MBA.