Beryllium Technology Research in the United States

Conference · Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2005

OSTI ID:911597

Longhurst, Glen R; Anderl, Robert A; Adleer-Flitton, M Kay; Matthern, Gretchen E; Tranter, Troy J; Hollis, Kendall J

While most active research involving beryllium in the United States remains tied strongly to biological effects, there are several areas of technology development in the last two years that should be mentioned. (1) Beryllium disposed of in soil vaults at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) has been encapsulated in-situ by high-temperature and pressure injection of a proprietary wax based material to inhibit corrosion. (2) A research program to develop a process for removing heavy metals and cobalt from irradiated beryllium using solvent extraction techniques has been initiated to remove components that prevent the beryllium from being disposed of as ordinary radioactive waste. (3) The JUPITER-II program at the INL Safety and Tritium Applied Research (STAR) facility has addressed the REDOX reaction of beryllium in molten Flibe (a mixture of LiF and BeF2) to control tritium, particularly in the form of HF, bred in the Flibe by reactions involving both beryllium and lithium. (4) Work has been performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory to produce beryllium high heat flux components by plasma spray deposition on macro-roughened substrates. Finally, (5) corrosion studies on buried beryllium samples at the RWMC have shown that the physical form of some of the corroded beryllium is very filamentary and asbestos-like. This form of beryllium may exacerbate the contraction of chronic beryllium disease.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-99ID-13727
• OSTI ID: 911597
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-05-00920; TRN: US0800032
• Resource Relation: Conference: 7th IEA International Workshop on Beryllium Technology,Santa Barbara, CA,11/29/2005,12/02/2005
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 - MGMT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES, 21 - SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS, 22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS, 36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE, 38 - RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
BERYLLIUM
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
COBALT
CONTRACTION
CORROSION
DEPOSITION
FLIBE
HEAT FLUX
HEAVY METALS
LITHIUM
MIXTURES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REDOX REACTIONS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SAFETY
SOILS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SUBSTRATES
TRITIUM
beryllium
disposal
fusion
irradiated
plasma spray
transuranic