PROCESS AUTOMATION USING COMBINATIONS OF PROCESS AND MACHINE CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES WITH APPLICATION TO A CONTINUOUS DISSOLVER

Operation of a continuous rotary dissolver, designed to leach uranium-plutonium fuel from chopped sections of reactor fuel cladding using nitric acid, has been automated. The dissolver is a partly continuous, partly batch process that interfaces at both ends with batchwise processes, thereby requiring synchronization of certain operations. Liquid acid is fed and flows through the dissolver continuously, whereas chopped fuel elements are fed to the dissolver in small batches and move through the compartments of the dissolver stagewise. Sequential logic (or machine control) techniques are used to control discrete activities such as the sequencing of isolation valves. Feedback control is used to control acid flowrates and temperatures. Expert systems technology is used for on-line material balances and diagnostics of process operation.