Status report on LWR spent fuel IAEA leach tests

Technical Report · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5325623· OSTI ID:5325623

Katayama, Y B; Bradley, D J; Harvey, C O

Spent light-water-reactor (LWR) fuel with an average burnup of 28,000 MWd/MTU was leach-tested at 25/sup 0/C using a modified version of the International Atomic Energy Agency procedure. Leach rates were determined from tests conducted in five different solutions: deionized water, sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO/sub 3/), calcium chloride (CaCl/sub 2/) and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant B brine solutions. Elemental leach rates are reported based on the release of /sup 90/Sr + /sup 90/Y, /sup 106/Ru, /sup 137/Cs, /sup 144/Ce, /sup 154/Eu, /sup 239 + 240/Pu, /sup 244/Cm and total uranium. After 467 days of cumulative leaching, the elemental leach rates are highest in deionized water. The elemental leach rates uin the different solutions generally decreased from deionized water to the 0.03M NaCl solution to the WIPP B brine solution to the 0.03M NaHCO/sub 3/ solution and was a factor of 20 lower in 0.015M CaCl/sub 2/ solution than in deionized water. The leach rates of spent fuel and borosilicate waste-glass were also compared. In sodium bicarbonate solution, the leach rates of the two waste forms were nearly equal, but the glass was increasingly more resistant than spent fuel in calcium chloride solution, followed by sodium chloride solution, WIPP B brine solution and deionized water. In deionized water the glass, based on the elemental release of plutonium and curium, was 50 to 400 times more leach resistant than spent fuel.

• Research Organization: Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-06-1830
• OSTI ID: 5325623
• Report Number(s): PNL-3173
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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054000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACID CARBONATES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BOROSILICATE GLASS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CERIUM 144
CERIUM ISOTOPES
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CURIUM 244
CURIUM ISOTOPES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISSOLUTION
ENERGY SOURCES
EUROPIUM 154
EUROPIUM ISOTOPES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FUELS
GLASS
HEAVY NUCLEI
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LEACHING
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 240
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE EARTH ISOTOPES
RARE EARTH NUCLEI
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
RUTHENIUM 106
RUTHENIUM ISOTOPES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SPENT FUELS
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
YTTRIUM 90
YTTRIUM ISOTOPES