Commercial and Defense nitrate wastes and processing alternatives

Technical Report · Wed Aug 25 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:6814959

Johnson, A J; Meile, L J; Jaskot, G F

Nitric acid is extensively used at commercial and defense facilities engaged in nuclear fuel reprocessing and/or actinide recovery and purification. The high volume usage of nitric acid results in the generation of large amounts of nitrate wastes. Commercial facilities in the nuclear fuel cycle report that they are able to handle most of their nitrate waste under current discharge limits but could have problems if these limits are lowered. The defense nuclear facilities generate by far the greater amount of waste nitrates. A separation system now planned for HLW at SRP, will convert large volumes of stored waste into a concentrated volume of HLW and large volumes of LLW nitrates. No processing systems are now operating that will produce a desirable final waste form. Several methods have been identified that could be used to destroy or convert the nitrate compounds to a waste more amenable to conversion into an acceptable waste form for final disposal.

• Research Organization: Rockwell International Corp., Golden, CO (USA). Rocky Flats Plant
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP03533
• OSTI ID: 6814959
• Report Number(s): RFP-3282; ON: DE83000027
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052001* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
FUEL CYCLE
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES