TDA Research, Inc. SBIR Phase I Award, June 2022

Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed In U.S. there is a need for more efficient and lower cost systems that can capture and store krypton-85 produced in nuclear fuel cycle systems. Even though a number of technologies have been proposed, the cost of implementing these technologies in shielded radioactive environments with the associated safety systems is very high. Hence there is a need for advanced materials and processes to reduce the cost of Kr-85 management from fuel cycle facilities, including reprocessing plants and molten salt reactors. General statement of how this problem is being addressed. TDA Research proposes to develop an efficient near-ambient temperature krypton capture process for nuclear fuel reprocessing and molten salt reactor plants. TDA’s process uses a radiation resistant advanced physical sorbent to capture Kr in an integrated off-gas treatment system, at a lower cost than current systems. Our specific Phase I objectives are to complete the laboratory scale proof-of-concept demonstration of the Kr capture process from simulated off-gases representative of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants. What is to be done in Phase I? In Phase I, we will optimize the operation of the new sorbent to best match the operating conditions of the off-gas treatment system. We will evaluate different sorbent formulations in bench-scale proof-of-concept tests to identify those with the high Kr capture efficiency and capacity while expected to be stable in the presence of radiation. We will optimize the Kr capture process to minimize the energy requirement for the overall off-gas treatment process. Finally, a detailed process design and system analysis will be completed for near-ambient temperature Kr capture process that can be integrated to the off-gas treatment system to provide cost reductions over the current state-of-the-art technologies. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits There is a large commercial market for the sorbents and processes developed here, for use in nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities and molten salt reactor based nuclear power plants, to reduce emissions of the radionuclides (radioactive gases). There is also a market for the sorbents and processes developed here in the commercial production of noble gases and in monitoring radio Xenon levels in atmosphere as part of nuclear non-proliferation monitoring.