Alternative Technical Summary Report: Electrometallurgical Treatment Variant
Immobilization is the fixation of the surplus fissile materials in an acceptable matrix such as glass or ceramics to create an environmentally benign form for disposal in a repository. In addition to the traditional characteristics required of an immobilization form to achieve isolation of the fissile material from the biosphere over geologic times, the immobilization form for the Fissile Materials Disposition Program (FMDP) must also possess the property that it is inherently as unattractive and inaccessible as the fissile material from commercial spent fuel. This latter requirement is similar to the wording of the ''spent fuel standard'' invoked in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study on plutonium disposition. High-level wastes (HLW) or separated cesium ({sup 137}Cs), can be added with the fissile material into the waste form to create a radiation field that increases the proliferation resistance and decreases reuse by the host nation in the following ways: (1) Plutonium will be diluted with elements that must be removed by extensive chemical processing to return it to weapons-usable purity; (2) The immobilized plutonium canisters will contain approximately 2 tonnes (2000 kg; 2.2 tons) of mass, thereby forcing the use of heavy equipment to move the canisters; (3) A gamma radiation barrier will be added to the immobilized plutonium canisters; the present concept is to add a radiation barrier that is greater than 1 Gy (100 rad) per hour at 1 m (3 ft) 30 years after fabrication; (4) These canisters will then be sealed in casks and emplaced into drifts in a federal repository where they will be monitored for 100 years before the repository is sealed. This immobilization process is shown conceptually in Figure 1. In the electrometallurgical treatment (ET) variant, plutonium-rich residues are shipped to existing Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) facilities where the plutonium is converted to plutonium chloride, dissolved in a molten salt solution, sorbed on zeolites, and then immobilized in a glass-bonded zeolite (GBZ) waste form. The immobilization operations will be performed in facilities and equipment that are being prepared to treat Department of Energy (DOE)-owned spent fuels in the ANL-W hot cells. Costs are also estimated for a secondary case for simultaneous plutonium disposition and spent fuel treatment. The fission products from these fuels may contribute some radiation to the immobilization forms, but the {sup 137}Cs from the Hanford capsules will provide most of the radiation field to create a radiation barrier.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-48
- OSTI ID:
- 793682
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-ID-122664; TRN: US200222%%55
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Nov 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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