Determination of the radioactive nuclides present in the off-gas streams generated by the head-end steps in reprocessing HTGR type fuels

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1973

OSTI ID:4392364

Lowrie, R S; Fitzgerald, C L; Vaughen, V C.A.; First, M W ^[1]

---

1. ed.

From twelfth AEC air cleaning conference; Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA (28 Aug 1972). In proceedings of the twelfth AEC air cleaning conference. Results of studies to determine the behavior of radioactive nuclides in the gaseous waste streams generated during the reprocessing of spent High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) fuel are presented. The fuel is in the form of coated particles of uranium and thorium, bonded into fuel sticks, and inserted into holes in large hexagonal graphite blocks. Spent fuel is reprocessed to recover the bred /sup 233/U and the unburned /sup 235/U. Preliminary tests, primarily to measure /sup 85/Kr and tritium release, were made using Dragon fuel compacts cortaining either BISO-coated (U-Th)O/sub 2/ solgel particles or both TRIS)-coated ThC/sub 2/ and TRISO-coated UC/sub 2/ particles. Burning the BISO-coated (U-Th)O/sub 2/ particles released the bulk of the /sup 85/Kr (97-98%) and the tritium (98-99%); the remainder was released during the leaching step. The initial burning of the mixed TRISO-coated ThC/sub 2/ and TRISO-coated UC/sub 2/ fuel released ~7.4% of the /sup 85/Kr. Subsequent grind-burn steps released an additional 7.4% of the / sup 85/Kr from the ThC/sub 2/ particles and 84.5% from t he UC/sub 2/ particles. (DHM)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN; Harvard Univ., Boston, Mass. (USA). Harvard Air Cleaning Lab.; Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn. (USA)
• NSA Number: NSA-29-004978
• OSTI ID: 4392364
• Report Number(s): CONF-720823-P2
• Resource Relation: Conference: 12. AEC air cleaning conference, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, 28 Aug 1972; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 30-JUN-74; Related Information: Proceedings of the twelfth AEC air cleaning conference
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

N40450* -Chemistry-Radiochemistry & Nuclear Chemistry- Reactor Fuel Processing
*KRYPTON 85- RADIATION MONITORING
*OFF-GAS SYSTEMS- RADIATION MONITORING
*SPENT FUELS- REPROCESSING
*TRITIUM- RADIATION MONITORING
GASEOUS WASTES
HEAD END PROCESSES
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
THORIUM CARBIDES
URANIUM CARBIDES