Recycle of Nitric Acid and Aluminum Nitrate

Technical Report · Fri Apr 19 04:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5548809· OSTI ID:5548809

Napier, John ^[1]

---

1. Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Y-12), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and is owned by the US Department of Energy (USDOE) and is managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. One of the plant's programs is purification and recycle of non-irradiated enriched uranium. A unit operation in the uranium recycle process is solvent extraction of the removal if impurities. For this operation, some of the recycle uranium is dissolved in nitric acid which is then solvent extracted. Two types of acidic nitrate wastes are generated from the extraction process; one of which is a dilute nitric acid waste, called condensate, which is produced from several evaporation operations. This waste may contain up to 10 wt % nitric acid with trace amounts of impurities such as organic carbon, chlorides and fluorides. The acid must be concentrated to 30 or more wt % and the impurities require removal before the nitric acid can be reused in the plant. A second waste, called raffinate, is also produced from the extraction processes. The raffinate waste contains high levels (more than 10 wt %) of aluminum nitrate which is used in the extraction process. It also contains most of the impurities extracted from the uranium. Most of the impurities must leave the extraction process in either the condensate or raffinate stream. In the early 1950's, four unlined waste ponds were constructed to receive the acidic wastes from the extraction process. In the early 1970's, a decision was made to develop and install processes, to recover as much acid and aluminum nitrate as practical from the wastes generated by the solvent extraction processes. The remaining wastes which could not be recycled would be treated to remove the environmentally objectionable compounds. A later decision in the early 1980's was made to develop and install in-situ treatment processes for the liquid wastes in the four ponds and for similar wastes that might be generated in the future.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Y-12), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OS21400
• OSTI ID: 5548809
• Report Number(s): Y/DZ--741; ON: DE91011901
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052001* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
053000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDES
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM NITRATES
BACTERIA
BIODEGRADATION
BIOREACTORS
CARBON
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL WASTES
DECOMPOSITION
DENITRIFICATION
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NITRATES
NITRIC ACID
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
NONRADIOACTIVE WASTES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PONDS
PSEUDOMONAS
RECYCLING
SURFACE WATERS
URANIUM
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
Y-12 PLANT