Technetium recovery and storage at 224-B budget design criteria

Technical Report · Mon Mar 22 04:00:00 EST 1965

OSTI ID:6028398

Schmidt, W C

An engineering study has indicated that technetium can be recovered from waste tank supernates at a minimum cost by activation of three cells in 224-B Building. The recovery of the technetium requires additional processing steps beyond the flowsheet planned in Phase 3 of the Waste Management Program. The additional processing requirements are: (1) extraction of the technetium by an ion exchange process from the Phase 3 supernates following the cesium removal step; (2) purification of the technetium from other fission products, i.e., ruthenium, by washing the anion exchange column with sodium hydroxide; (3) elution of the technetium product from the ion exchange column with nitric acid; (4) thermal concentration of the technetium product for storage and future loadout in 221-B; and (5) recovery of the nitric acid from the concentrator overheads for recycle to additional elution steps. This document presents the design criteria of the facilities required for the recovery and storage of technetium during the Phase 3 Waste Management Program. As a minimum, the design and construction of the tie-ins to Phase 3 should be incorporated into the Phase 3 construction program to minimize future capital expenditures. Unless technetium recovery facilities are in place by Phase 3 startup, the technetium in aged supernates will become extremely difficult and costly to remove after immobilization in the in-tank solidification process. 5 refs., 6 figs.

• Research Organization: General Electric Co., Richland, WA (USA). Hanford Atomic Products Operation
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6028398
• Report Number(s): RL-SEP-373; ON: DE91008689
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METALS
CESIUM
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION
DESIGN
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENGINEERING
FISSION PRODUCTS
HANFORD RESERVATION
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
INORGANIC ACIDS
ION EXCHANGE
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
METALS
MIXTURES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NITRIC ACID
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PLANNING
PLATINUM METALS
PROCESS SOLUTIONS
PROCESSING
PURIFICATION
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOVERY
RECYCLING
REGENERATION
REMOVAL
RUTHENIUM
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM HYDROXIDES
SOLIDIFICATION
SOLUTIONS
STORAGE
TECHNETIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE STORAGE
WASTES