Immobilization as a Route to Surplus Fissile Materials Disposition. Revision 1.

Conference · Tue Mar 19 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:231379

Gray, Leonard W. ^[1]; Kan, Tehmau ^[1]; McKibben, J. Malvyn ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
2. Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)

The safe management of surplus weapons plutonium is a very important and urgent task with profound environmental, national and international security implications. In the aftermath of the Cold War, Presidential Police Directive 13 and various analysis by renown scientific, technical and international policy organizations have brought about a focused effort within the Department of Energy to identify and implement paths forward for the long-term disposition of surplus weapons usable plutonium. The central, overarching goal is to render surplus weapons plutonium as inaccessible and unattractive for reuse in nuclear weapons, as the much larger and growing stock of plutonium contained in civilian spent reactor fuel. One disposition alternative considered for surplus Pu is immobilization, in which plutonium would be emplaced in glass, ceramic or glass-bonded zeolite. This option, along with some of the progress over the last year is discussed.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 231379
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--118846-Rev.1; CONF-9603167--1; ON: DE96010836
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BOROSILICATE GLASS
Borosilicate Glass
CERAMICS
CESIUM 137
Ceramic
Deep Borehole
Disposition
Geologic Repository
Glass
Glass-Bonded Zeolite
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
Immobilization
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Multi-Attribute Utility Analysis (MAUA)
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR WEAPONS DISMANTLEMENT
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SPENT FUELS
STORAGE
Spent Reactor Fuel
Surplus Fissile Materials Control and Disposition (MD) Project
Surplus Pu
Surplus Weapons Usable Plutonium
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TITANIUM OXIDES
Tailored Ceramic
VITRIFICATION
WASTE FORMS
Waste Matrix