Irradiation test of sup 99 Tc and sup 129 I transmutation in the Fast Flux Test Facility

Conference · Thu Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7066948

Wootan, D W; Jordheim, D P ^[1]; Matsumoto, W Y

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1. Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)

An attractive option for dealing with the problems of nuclear waste disposal includes reprocessing spent light water reactor fuel to recover and recycle the uranium and plutonium, partitioning key long-lived actinides and fission products, and transmuting recovered and purified very long-lived problem isotopes. Most transmutation studies have dealt with the minor actinides; however, a successful transmutation strategy also must address the long-lived fission products {sup 99}Tc and {sup 129}I. Destruction of {sup 99}Tc and {sup 129}I is accomplished by a single neutron-capture event, followed by very rapid decay to stable {sup 100}Ru and {sup 130}Xe, respectively. The probability of a neutron-capture event is significantly higher in a moderated neutron spectrum than in a fast spectrum. Studies have shown that effective transmutation rates of {sup 99}Tc and {sup 129}I potentially can be achieved in specially designed metal hydride assemblies in fast reactors or advanced accelerator-driven devices. A successful transmutation experiment for the key long-lived fission products {sup 99}Tc and {sup 129}I was performed using a metal-hydride-moderated environment in the radial reflector region of a sodium-cooled fast reactor with reasonably good agreement between measured and calculated transmutation rates. The underprediction of both transmutation rates is likely a result of axial gradients in the low-energy neutron flux over the target regions.

• OSTI ID: 7066948
• Report Number(s): CONF-911107--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Vol. 64; ISSN TANSA; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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