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Title: Solubility of plutonium and waste evaporation

Abstract

Chemical processing of irradiated reactor elements at the Savannah River Site separates uranium, plutonium and fission products; fission products and process-added chemicals are mixed with an excess of NaOH and discharged as a basic slurry into large underground tanks for temporary storage. The slurry is composed of base-insoluble solids that settle to the bottom of the tank; the liquid supemate contains a mixture of base-soluble chemicals--nitrates, nitrites aluminate, sulfate, etc. To conserve space in the waste tanks, the supemate is concentrated by evaporation. As the evaporation proceeds, the solubilities of some components are exceeded, and these species crystallize from solution. Normally, these components are soluble in the hot solution discharged from the waste tank evaporator and do not crystallize until the solution cools. However, concern was aroused at West Valley over the possibility that plutonium would precipitate and accumulate in the evaporator, conceivably to the point that a nuclear accident was possible. There is also a concern at SRS from evaporation of sludge washes, which arise from washing the base-insoluble solids ({open_quote}sludge{close_quote}) with ca. 1M NaOH to reduce the Al and S0{sub 4}{sup {minus}2} content. The sludge washes of necessity extract a low level of Pu from the sludge andmore » are evaporated to reduce their volume, presenting the possibility of precipitating Pu. Measurements of the solubility of Pu in synthetic solutions of similar composition to waste supernate and sludge washes are described in this report.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
10158025
Report Number(s):
WSRC-TR-93-578
ON: DE94013206; TRN: 94:011125
DOE Contract Number:  
AC09-88SR18036
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 22 Oct 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; PLUTONIUM; SOLUBILITY; SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT; RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING; 052001; WASTE PROCESSING

Citation Formats

Karraker, D G. Solubility of plutonium and waste evaporation. United States: N. p., 1993. Web. doi:10.2172/10158025.
Karraker, D G. Solubility of plutonium and waste evaporation. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/10158025
Karraker, D G. 1993. "Solubility of plutonium and waste evaporation". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/10158025. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10158025.
@article{osti_10158025,
title = {Solubility of plutonium and waste evaporation},
author = {Karraker, D G},
abstractNote = {Chemical processing of irradiated reactor elements at the Savannah River Site separates uranium, plutonium and fission products; fission products and process-added chemicals are mixed with an excess of NaOH and discharged as a basic slurry into large underground tanks for temporary storage. The slurry is composed of base-insoluble solids that settle to the bottom of the tank; the liquid supemate contains a mixture of base-soluble chemicals--nitrates, nitrites aluminate, sulfate, etc. To conserve space in the waste tanks, the supemate is concentrated by evaporation. As the evaporation proceeds, the solubilities of some components are exceeded, and these species crystallize from solution. Normally, these components are soluble in the hot solution discharged from the waste tank evaporator and do not crystallize until the solution cools. However, concern was aroused at West Valley over the possibility that plutonium would precipitate and accumulate in the evaporator, conceivably to the point that a nuclear accident was possible. There is also a concern at SRS from evaporation of sludge washes, which arise from washing the base-insoluble solids ({open_quote}sludge{close_quote}) with ca. 1M NaOH to reduce the Al and S0{sub 4}{sup {minus}2} content. The sludge washes of necessity extract a low level of Pu from the sludge and are evaporated to reduce their volume, presenting the possibility of precipitating Pu. Measurements of the solubility of Pu in synthetic solutions of similar composition to waste supernate and sludge washes are described in this report.},
doi = {10.2172/10158025},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/10158025}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 22 00:00:00 EDT 1993},
month = {Fri Oct 22 00:00:00 EDT 1993}
}