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

WASTE MANAGEMENT AT THE IDAHO CHEMICAL PROCESSING PLANT

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4054737· OSTI ID:4054737
Unused uranium from spent, highly enriched reactor fuel elements is recovered at ICPP. The recovered uranium, reduced to a radioactivity level near that of unirradiated uranium, is shipped as a concentrated uranyl nitrate solution. Radioactive barium (RaLa), krypton, and xenon can also be recovered in auxiliary equipment. The plant has a variety of processes so that pure uranium, aluminum, zirconium, or stainless steel clad elements can be handled. In all processes, the fuel elements are dissolved in an appropriate media; and fission products and alloying metals are separated from the uranium in two or more stages of solvent extraction. A block diagram of the processes and their interrelations is included. A plot plan of the ICPP showing major buildings and a perspective drawing of the main process building are also included. Waste management at ICPP is designed to maintain the release of radioactive and chemical wastes to plant environs within the limits established by AEC Health and Safety. The radioactive wastes at ICPP range from short half life fission products from the two-day-old fuel employed in RaLa to liquid wastes with seven or eight years decay. Methods of controlling gases, liquids, and solids are considered. (auth)
Research Organization:
Phillips Petroleum Co. Atomic Energy Div., Idaho Falls, Idaho
Sponsoring Organization:
US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
DOE Contract Number:
AT(10-1)-205
NSA Number:
NSA-15-020473
OSTI ID:
4054737
Report Number(s):
IDO-14551
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English