Since it was founded in 1976, COGEMA has designed and built two reprocessing plants, each with a capacity of 850 t/y in La Hague, France. These plants, named UP2-800 and UP3, use the PUREX process. UP3 began operations at the end of the '80s and UP2-800 in the mid '90sInnovations have been constantly incorporated to these plants to improve process efficiency and to reduce the activity and volume of waste. During these years, COGEMA has acquired an important experience in industrialising processes and technologies developed in the laboratory, especially in the domain of liquid-liquid extraction . The goal of this paper is to present this experience, taking as an example the development and design of the UP2-800 Pu conversion facility R4 started in 2002.

Three types of liquid-liquid extraction equipment are used in industrial reprocessing plants. Each is described below, with a special focus on pulsed columns and centrifugal extractors, which have been the subject of an extensive R&D program by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Various models have been developed to simulate equipment behavior and flowsheets. The excellent results obtained during industrial operation of the UP3 and UP2-800 plants in La Hague have confirmed the validity of the choices made during the design phases and pave the way for future improvement of the reprocessing process, from a technical and a financial standpoint.

The extension of the UP2 plant at La Hague includes a new plutonium purification cycle using multi-stage centrifugal extractors, to replace the present cycle which uses mixer/settler banks. The advantage of this type of extractor is basically the compactness of the equipment and the short residence time, which limits solvent degradation, particularly when reprocessing fuel containing a high proportion of plutonium 238. Two types of reducing agents have been considered for the plutonium stripping operation, uranous nitrate and hydroxylamine nitrate. Uranous nitrate displays a very fast reduction kinetics, ideal for the very short residence time of the phases in the centrifugal extractors. However, its extractability in the organic phase exacerbates the undesirable re-oxidation of plutonium, which is present in high concentration in this stage of the process. The short residence time of the centrifugal extractors is an advantage in as much as it could conceivably be adequate to obtain a sufficient reduction efficiency, while minimizing undesirable re-oxidation mechanisms. Hydroxylamine nitrate helps to minimize undesirable re-oxidation and is the normal choice for this type of operation. However, the plutonium (IV) reduction kinetics obtained is slower than with uranous nitrate, making it necessary to check whether its use is compatible with the very short residence times of centrifugal extractors.This article discusses the feasibility studies employing these two reducing agents. (author)

The extension of the UP2 plant at La Hague includes a new plutonium purification cycle using multistage centrifugal extractors to replace the previous cycle that used mixer/settler banks. This type of extractor is suitable for the treatment of fuel containing a high proportion of plutonium-238, as its short residence time limits solvent degradation. This paper deals with the research done to devise its flowsheet, the centrifugal extractors in which it is operated, as well as the feedback of six years of industrial operation.