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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Beneficial uses program. Progress report, period ending 31 December 1975

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4037439
Progress is reported on studies designed to develop the necessary technologies for cost-beneficial uses of existing and future surplus radioactive materials. The purpose of the Waste Resources Utilization Program is to develop a technology to utilize cesium-137, a nuclear power plant by-product, to modify sewage sludge for safe application as a fertilizer or as an animal feed supplement. A major portion of the effort this quarter was directed toward establishment of thermoradiation treatment levels for elimination of pathogenic organisms in sludge. Three groups of pathogenic microorganisms are being studied: viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Other areas of study included physical-chemical properties of thermoradiation treated sewage sludge such as ''settling'' and ''filterability'' and pilot plant design for a plant to thermoradiate up to 75 kiloliters of sludge per day. In the Separation Technology and Source Development Program previous work has demonstrated the feasibility of applying the Sandia Solidification Process to the recovery of radiocesium from high-level liquid wastes. The influence of various parameters on $sup 137$Cs source intensities was explored. A multiple ceramic $sup 137$Cs source package was found to be essentially the same from a radiation process viewpoint as a single $sup 137$Cs source. The tolerable impurity levels in the ceramic sources, in terms of perturbation of the gamma flux, are relatively high (a few percent). (JGB)
Research Organization:
Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, N.Mex. (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AT(29-1)-789
NSA Number:
NSA-33-026114
OSTI ID:
4037439
Report Number(s):
SAND--76-0065
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English