Evaluation of retention and disposal options for tritium in fuel reprocessing

Technical Report · Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5364588· OSTI ID:5364588

Grimes, W. R.; Hampson, D. C.; Larkin, D. J.; Skolrud, J. O.; Benjamin, R. W.

Five options were evaluated as means of retaining tritium released from light-water reactor or fast breeder reactor fuel during the head-end steps of a typical Purex reprocessing scheme. Cost estimates for these options were compared with a base case in which no retention of tritium within the facility was obtained. Costs were also estimated for a variety of disposal methods of the retained tritium. The disposal costs were combined with the retention costs to yield total costs (capital plus operating) for retention and disposal of tritium under the conditions envisioned. The above costs were converted to an annual basis and to a dollars per curie retained basis. This then was used to estimate the cost in dollars per man-rem saved by retaining the tritium. Only the options that used the least expensive disposal costs could approach the $1000/man-rem cost used as a guide by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5364588
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-8261; ON: DE82019732
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
COST
TRITIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
DATA COMPILATION
FBR TYPE REACTORS
HEAD END PROCESSES
PUREX PROCESS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BREEDER REACTORS
DATA
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MANAGEMENT
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PROCESSING
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
051000 - Nuclear Fuels- Economic
Industrial
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050800 - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing