Recovery of fissile materials from nuclear wastes
A process is described for recovering fissile materials such as uranium, and plutonium, and rare earth elements, from complex waste feed material, and converting the remaining wastes into a waste glass suitable for storage or disposal. The waste feed is mixed with a dissolution glass formed of lead oxide and boron oxide resulting in oxidation, dehalogenation, and dissolution of metal oxides. Carbon is added to remove lead oxide, and a boron oxide fusion melt is produced. The fusion melt is essentially devoid of organic materials and halogens, and is easily and rapidly dissolved in nitric acid. After dissolution, uranium, plutonium, and rare earth elements are separated from the acid and recovered by processes such as PUREX or ion exchange. The remaining acid waste stream is vitrified to produce a waste glass suitable for storage or disposal. Potential waste feed materials include plutonium scrap and residue, miscellaneous spent nuclear fuel, and uranium fissile wastes. The initial feed materials may contain mixtures of metals, ceramics, amorphous solids, halides, organic material and other carbon-containing material.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- Assignee:
- DOEGC; EDB-00:082076
- Patent Number(s):
- PATENTS-US-A8964761
- Application Number:
- 8-964,761; TRN: AH200031%%27
- OSTI ID:
- 757262
- Resource Relation:
- Patent File Date: 1997 Nov 05; Other Information: PBD: 1 Dec 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Recovery of fissile materials from nuclear wastes
Recovery of fissile materials from wastes and conversion of the residual wastes to glass
Related Subjects
FISSILE MATERIALS
ION EXCHANGE
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RARE EARTHS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
SCRAP METALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
URANIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
VITRIFICATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE FORMS