Use of Modeling for Prevention of Solids Formation During Canyon Processing of Legacy Nuclear Materials at the Savannah River Site

Conference · Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2002

OSTI ID:830698

Rhodes, W D; Crooks, III, W J; Christian, J D

The Savannah River Site (SRS) Environmental Management (EM) nuclear material stabilization program includes the dissolution and processing of legacy materials from various DOE sites. The SRS canyon facilities were designed to dissolve and process spent nuclear fuel and targets. As the processing of typical materials is completed, unusual and exotic nuclear materials are being targeted for stabilization. These unusual materials are often difficult to dissolve using historical flowsheet conditions and require more aggressive dissolver solutions. Solids must be prevented in the dissolver to avoid expensive delays associated with the build-up of insoluble material in downstream process equipment. Moreover, it is vital to prevent precipitation of all solids, especially plutonium-bearing solids, since their presence in dissolver solutions raises criticality safety issues. To prevent precipitation of undesirable solids in aqueous process solutions, the accuracy of computer models to predict precipitate formation requires incorporation of plant specific fundamental data. These data are incorporated into a previously developed thermodynamic computer program that applies the Pitzer correlation to derive activity coefficient parameters. This improved predictive model will reduce unwanted precipitation in process solutions at DOE sites working with EM nuclear materials in aqueous solutions.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Savannah River Company Bldg 773A, Aiken, SC; Electrode Specialties Company 3122 Homestead Lane Idaho Falls, ID (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• OSTI ID: 830698
• Resource Relation: Conference: Waste Management 2002 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/24/2002--02/28/2002; Other Information: PBD: 26 Feb 2002
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
COMPUTER CODES
CRITICALITY
DISSOLUTION
MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR FUELS
PROCESS SOLUTIONS
PROCESSING
REACTION KINETICS
STABILIZATION
THERMODYNAMIC ACTIVITY
WASTE MANAGEMENT