Organic diagenesis in commercial nuclear wastes
The nuclear industry currently faces numerous challenges. Large volumes of already existing wastes must be permanently disposed using environmentally acceptable technologies. Numerous criteria must be addressed before wastes can be permanently disposed. Waste characterization is certainly one of the key criteria for proper waste management. some wastes are complex melting pots of inorganics, radiochemicals, and, occasionally, organics. It is clear, for example, that organics have been used extensively in nuclear operations, such as waste reprocessing, and continue to be used widely as solvents, decontamination agents, etc. The authors have analyzed the organic content of many kinds of nuclear wastes, ranging from commercial to defense wastes. In this paper, the finale analyses are described of three commercial wastes: one waste from a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and two wastes from a boiling water reactor (BWR). The PWR waste is a boric acid concentrate waste. The two BWR wastes, BWR wastes Nos. 1 and 2, are evaporator concentrates of liquid wastes produced during the regeneration of ion-exchange resins used to purify reactor process water. In preliminary analyses, which were reported previously, a few know organics and myriad unknowns were detected. Recent reexamination of mass-spectral data, coupled with reanalysis of the wastes, has resulted in the firm identification of the unknowns. Most of the compounds, over thirty distinct organics, are derived from the degradation, or diagenesis, of source-term organics, revealing, for the first time, that organic diagenesis in commercial wastes is both vigorous and varied.
- OSTI ID:
- 5626890
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-880601-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 89-027884
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA), Vol. 56; Conference: American Nuclear Society annual meeting, San Diego, CA (USA), 12-16 Jun 1988; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CHEMICAL WASTES
DIAGENESIS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
BORIC ACID
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CLASSIFICATION
ION EXCHANGE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RESINS
SOURCE TERMS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
POLYMERS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REACTORS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage