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

Tritium waste control: April-September 1981

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5363007

Progress reports are presented for the following: electrolysis of tritiated water; impurity removal from combined Electrolysis Catalytic Exchange (CECE) feed water; gas generation measurements on tritiated waste materials; fixation of aqueous tritiated waste in polymer-impregnated concrete; management of high specific activity tritiated liquid wastes; and tritium assay of low specific activity (LSA) laboratory and LSA shoe cover waste. Some of the highlights are as follows: (1) gas generation rates caused by radiolysis of tritium waste materials were determined for polymer and nonpolymer-impregnated, tritiated concrete and fixated and nonfixated, tritiated waste vacuum pump oil; (2) the drum study monitoring the release of tritium from actual burial packages showed that the maximum fractional release rate for the three types of high activity, tritiated liquid waste generated is 1.25 x 10/sup -5/, and the maximum total permeation is 122 mCi after 5.5 y. These two values represent a 9 to 20% increase for the past six months. Tritium release from the polymer-impregnated, tritiated concrete (PITC) and the control (non-PITC) remains very low. Two assays were performed on low specific activity, tritium-contaminated waste generated at Mound. In one, four LSA drums were assayed for total tritium content by leaching the contents with water. The tritium content of all four drums was well within the LSA limit of less than 25 Ci per drum. In the second study a drum of discarded shoe covers from tritium-handling areas was filled with a measureed quantity of water for leaching tritium from the shoe covers. The minimum amount of tritium within the drum was determined. An annual average estimate of tritium removed and buried as LSA shoe cover trash was also made.

Research Organization:
Mound Facility, Miamisburg, OH (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00053
OSTI ID:
5363007
Report Number(s):
MLM-2903; ON: DE82016040
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English