Treatment of high-level wastes from the IFR fuel cycle

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5116528

Johnson, T R; Lewis, M A; Newman, A E; Laidler, J J

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) is being developed as a future commercial power source that promises to have important advantages over present reactors, including improved resource conservation and waste management. The spent metal alloy fuels from an IFR will be processed in an electrochemical cell operating at 500{degree}C with a molten chloride salt electrolyte and cadmium metal anode. After the actinides have been recovered from several batches of core and blanket fuels, the salt cadmium in this electrorefiner will be treated to separate fission products from residual transuranic elements. This treatment produces a waste salt that contains the alkali metal, alkaline earth, and halide fission products; some of the rare earths; and less than 100 nCi/g of alpha activity. The treated metal wastes contain the rest of the fission products (except T, Kr, and Xe) small amounts of uranium, and only trace amounts of transuranic elements. The current concept for the salt waste form is an aluminosilicate matrix, and the concept for the metal waste form is a corrosion-resistant metal alloy. The processes and equipment being developed to treat and immobilize the salt and metal wastes are described.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5116528
• Report Number(s): ANL/CP-75624; CONF-920815--3; ON: DE92017069
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
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ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELECTROLYSIS
ELECTROREFINING
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL CYCLE
FUELS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
IFR REACTOR
ISOTOPES
LYSIS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REFINING
REPROCESSING
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SALTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLIDIFICATION
SPENT FUELS
WASTE FORMS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
ZERO POWER REACTORS