Division of waste management programs. Progress report, July--December 1977. [Intermediate level waste solidification; acid digestion]

Technical Report · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6552957· OSTI ID:6552957

Lerch, R. E.; Allen, C. R. ^[1]

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1. comps.

An acid fractionator and acid recycle equipment were added to the Radioactive Acid Digestion Test Unit (RADTU). The first simulated waste was processed through RADTU in November. By the end of December RADTU had been operated up to its design capacity of 4 kg of waste/hour without major problems. The unit was operated for 23 hours and processed 62 kg of waste during initial shakedown testing. Borosilicate glass specimens, containing up to 33 wt percent acid digestion residue, were made after the sulfur was removed. The glass had a density of 2.6 g/cm/sup 3/ and produced a two-fold decrease in residue volume. During tests on the solubility of thorium oxide in the acid digestion system, thorium oxide was converted to a form, presumably thorium sulfate, that was soluble in either dilute nitric acid or water. Thorium sulfate has approximately the same solubility in acid digestion as plutonium, about 0.1 g/l, and strontium from the boric acid-cement samples were found to be excessively high during 14-day leach tests. Leach rates of cesium and strontium from the sodium sulfate-cement samples were much lower. Leach rate tests were also performed on mercuric iodate immobilized in cement. 12 figs., 10 tables.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-14-2170
• OSTI ID: 6552957
• Report Number(s): HEDL-TME-78-48
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Management
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
BORIC ACID
BORON COMPOUNDS
BOROSILICATES
BUILDING MATERIALS
CEMENTS
CESIUM
CHALCOGENIDES
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
IODATES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
LEACHING
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MERCURY COMPOUNDS
METALS
NITRIC ACID
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM SULFATES
SOLIDIFICATION
SOLUBILITY
STRONTIUM
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TESTING
THORIUM COMPOUNDS
THORIUM OXIDES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES