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The American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility at the Piketon, Ohio, site is located in a portion of an existing process building that is ultimately expected to house the American Centrifuge Plant.
In August 2007, USEC began the Lead Cascade test program at the facility, an integrated testing phase of the American Centrifuge technology involving multiple machines in a cascade configuration.
In a centrifuge enrichment facility, a cascade is a group of centrifuge machines connected in a series and parallel arrangement to achieve an intended isotope separation capability. A commercial uranium enrichment facility that uses gas centrifuge technology is made up of multiple cascades.
The number and arrangement of centrifuge machines in a cascade can vary. The cascades tested during the Lead Cascade test program consist of fewer machines than would ultimately be in a commercial cascade. Initiating the Lead Cascade test program marked another important step in the deployment of the American Centrifuge Plant.
USEC has achieved a number of key objectives through the Lead Cascade test program, including:
USEC has been conducting a Lead Cascade integrated testing program at the Piketon, Ohio, plant since August 2007. The test program involves the integrated testing of multiple prototype machines in a cascade configuration and has demonstrated the ability to generate product assays in a range usable by nuclear power plants. The centrifuges involved in the Lead Cascade integrated test program have operated for more than 275,000 total machine hours, providing data on equipment reliability and identifying opportunities to further optimize the machine and cascade design.
The license issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the demonstration facility specifies that the machines be operated in a closed-loop configuration where the uranium gas is enriched, depleted and recombined in a repetitive cycle. The demonstration facility license permits test samples of enriched uranium to be withdrawn through a mass spectrometer. The ability to separate uranium isotopes is tested by analyzing these samples.
These prototype machines confirmed design and performance targets while verifying the predictions of our analytical models. USEC has tested the centrifuge machines in a wide range of operating conditions unlikely to be seen in normal plant operations. Lead Cascade operations also gives USEC’s employees experience in operating a cascade of machines in a variety of conditions, which allows the Company to refine operating and maintenance procedures.
The Lead Cascade test program initially involved prototype machines. Improved AC100 components and design have been incrementally introduced into the Lead Cascade operations. We are now in the process of deploying a cascade of AC100 series machines.
The initial design for the AC100 machine reflects improvements learned during individual machine testing and subsequent integrated testing of the prototype machine in a cascade.
During 2008, the initial AC100 machine design was released to USEC’s strategic suppliers in preparation for installing a test cascade of AC100 machines in Piketon. The strategic suppliers have been manufacturing parts for the initial AC100 machines and the first components to build these machines were delivered in November of 2008.
USEC is currently working on deploying a multi-stage cascade of AC100 machines operating under commercial plant conditions.
Although this cascade will operate in a closed loop configuration, the flow of uranium feed and tails between individual machines in the cascade will be similar to those expected in commercial plant operations.