Hot cell studies of tritium removal from and dissolution of an irradiated thoria fuel

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5120516

Pickett, J B

Tritium removal and dissolution studies on an irradiated thoria-based fuel were conducted in the High Level Caves at the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL). The objectives of these studies were to define the effects of key process-related parameters on tritium evolution and subsequent dissolution. The test program at SRL determined the effects on tritium removal of particle size, heating temperature, oxidation, and agitation. ThO/sub 2//UO/sub 2/ (95%/5%) fuel from the Elk River Reactor, irradiated to about 12,000 MWD/MTHM and cooled for about 12 years, was used in the tests. The thoria/urania fuel pellets were separated from the stainless steel cladding and were divided into size fractions to determine the particle-size distribution resulting from the decladding process. In the tritium removal tests, the effect of heating several different particle-size fractions was studied at temperatures ranging from 600 to 1000/sup 0/C in the presence of air for 10 to 30 hours. Each of the roasted samples (about 100 grams) was subsequently dissolved in refluxing Thorex reagent (13M HNO/sub 3/, 0.05M HF, and 0.1M Al(NO/sub 3/)/sub 3/) to determine the residual tritium. The amount of insoluble residue remaining after the dissolution was determined and characterized.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 5120516
• Report Number(s): DP-MS-80-11; CONF-800943-8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CHALCOGENIDES
DISSOLUTION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
ERR REACTOR
FUEL CYCLE
FUELS
HOT CELLS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
POWER REACTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REMOVAL
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SIZE
SPENT FUELS
THERMAL REACTORS
THOREX PROCESS
THORIUM COMPOUNDS
THORIUM CYCLE
THORIUM OXIDES
THORIUM REACTORS
TRITIUM
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES