Development, analysis, and simulation of a technological structure for reprocessing irradiated nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants by water-extraction methods

The development of closed water-extraction technologies for reprocessing irradiated fuel from nuclear power plants as part of a closed nuclear fuel cycle based on the purex process, including units for obtaining and preparing irradiated fuel for reprocessing, separating actinides with their purification and obtaining commercial forms, as well as concentrating and immobilizing process radwastes is analyzed. It is shown that a formalized description can be given for the elements of the technological structure using generalizing terms, making it possible to propose an approach to constructing a hierarchical model of the technological process with number coding of the levels of production–unit–operation–flow, in turn making it possible to construct graphical structural diagrams showing the couplings between units and operations as well as to construct a mathematical model of the materials balance.