FY-1984 annual report: spent fuel and UO/sub 2/ source term evaluation results

Technical Report · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5985287· OSTI ID:5985287

Gray, W J; McVay, G L

Spent fuel is being considered as a possible waste form for disposal in a salt repository. Static leach tests of spent fuel in salt brine have been conducted to provide a source term that can be used for modeling the potential for release of radionuclides from the repository. The distribution of radionuclides after release from the spent fuel has also been investigated. In addition. leach tests on unirradiated UO/sub 2/ pellets have been conducted as an aid toward interpretation of the spent fuel results. Results from the spent fuel tests showed that almost all of the release of the four elements tested (U, Pu, Tc, and Cs) occurred in the first 5 days and that very little additional release occurred over the next 175 days. Iron coupons in some of the tests had no effect on the total release, but it drastically reduced solution concentrations for all elements tested except Cs. Zircaloy coupons had little or no effect. The purpose of the UO/sub 2/ tests conducted in FY-1984 was to determine whether a U/sub 3/O/sub 7/ surface layer on UO/sub 2/ pellets had any effect on leaching characteristics. It did not.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5985287
• Report Number(s): DOE/CH-19; PNL-5650; ON: DE86007740
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDES
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BRINES
CESIUM
CHALCOGENIDES
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DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FUELS
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MEDIUM TEMPERATURE
METALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM
REACTOR MATERIALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOURCE TERMS
SPENT FUELS
TECHNETIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
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