Measurement of radioactive gaseous effluents from voloxidation and dissolution of spent nuclear fuel

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6942198

Stone, J. A.; Johnson, D. R.

Laboratory-scale tests gave data on the release of tritium, /sup 14/C, /sup 85/Kr, and /sup 129/I as radioactive gases from spent nuclear fuels during voloxidation and dissolution. Voloxidation, a proposed reprocessing step, is intended to remove tritium from fuel by oxidation of UO/sub 2/ to U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ prior to dissolution of the fuel with nitric acid. /sup 14/C, /sup 85/Kr, and /sup 129/I may be evolved in both steps. Quantitative data from the tests may be used in designing off-gas treatment processes and equipment. The tests were performed in a shielded cell with a combination voloxidizer-dissolver. With a recirculating off-gas system, tritium and /sup 14/C were trapped on molecular sieves; /sup 129/I was trapped on silver-exchanged zeolite. /sup 85/Kr was measured by online gamma-ray counting. Zircaloy-clad UO/sub 2/ fuels from H. B. Robinson-2, Oconee-1, and Saxton reactors, with burnups from approximately 100 to approximately 28,000 MWD/MTHM, were tested. The results confirm that voloxidation released most of the tritium but only small fractions of the /sup 14/C, /sup 85/Kr, and /sup 129/I; the remainder of these radioactive gases evolved when the voloxidized fuels were dissolved. Voloxidation off-gases typically contained >99.8% of the tritium, 17 to 22% of the /sup 14/C, 7 to 17% of the /sup 85/Kr, and <8% of the /sup 129/I. Tritium evolved as HTO, with <0.1% as HT.

• Research Organization: Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-09-0001
• OSTI ID: 6942198
• Report Number(s): DP-MS-78-7; CONF-780819-21
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
052001 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
DISSOLUTION
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
FUELS
HEAD END PROCESSES
HOURS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
IODINE 129
IODINE ISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
KRYPTON 85
KRYPTON ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MONITORING
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OFF-GAS SYSTEMS
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPENT FUELS
TRITIUM
VOLOXIDATION PROCESS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES