Concentration of uranium and plutonium in unsaturated spent fuel tests.

Conference · Wed Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 1998

OSTI ID:10740

Finn, P A

Commercial spent fuel is being tested under oxidizing conditions at 90 C in drip tests with simulated groundwater to evaluate its long-term performance in a potential repository at Yucca Mountain [1-4]. The tests allow us to monitor the dissolution behavior of the spent fuel matrix and the release rates of individual radionuclides. This paper reports the U and Pu concentrations in the leachates of drip tests during 3.7 years of reaction. Changes in these concentrations are correlated with changes in the measured pH and the appearance of alteration products on the fuel surface. Although there is little thermodynamic information at 90 C for either uranyl or plutonium compounds, some data are available at 25 C [5-8]. The literature data for the U and Pu solubilities of U and Pu compounds were compared to the U and Pu concentrations in the leachates. We also compare Wilson's [9] U and Pu concentrations in semi-static tests at 85 C on spent fuel with our results.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10740
• Report Number(s): ANL/CMT/CP-96157
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CONCENTRATION RATIO
CORROSION RESISTANCE
DISSOLUTION
GROUND WATER
LEACHATES
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SOLUBILITY
SPENT FUELS
THERMODYNAMICS
URANIUM
WASTE FORMS
YUCCA MOUNTAIN