Recycling Of Uranium- And Plutonium-Contaminated Metals From Decommissioning Of The Hanau Fuel Fabrication Plant

Conference · Wed Feb 26 04:00:00 EST 2003

OSTI ID:826375

Kluth, T; Quade, U; Lederbrink, F W

Decommissioning of a nuclear facility comprises not only actual dismantling but also, above all, management of the resulting residual materials and waste. Siemens Decommissioning Projects (DP) in Hanau has been involved in this task since 1995 when the decision was taken to decommission and dismantle the Hanau Fuel Fabrication Plant. Due to the decommissioning, large amounts of contaminated steel scrap have to be managed. The contamination of this metal scrap can be found almost exclusively in the form of surface contamination. Various decontamination technologies are involved, as there are blasting and wiping. Often these methods are not sufficient to meet the free release limits. In these cases, SIEMENS has decided to melt the scrap at Siempelkamp's melting plant. The plant is licensed according to the German Radiation Protection Ordinance Section 7 (issue of 20.07.2001). The furnace is a medium frequency induction type with a load capacity of 3.2 t and a throughput of 2 t/h for steel melting. For safety reasons, the furnace is widely operated by remote handling. A highly efficient filter system of cyclone, bag filter and HEPA-filter in two lines retains the dust and aerosol activity from the off-gas system. The slag is solidified at the surface of the melt and gripped before pouring the liquid iron into a chill. Since 1989, in total 15,000 t have been molten in the plant, 2,000 t of them having been contaminated steel scrap from the decommissioning of fuel fabrication plants. Decontamination factors could be achieved between 80 and 100 by the high affinity of the uranium to the slag former. The activity is transferred to the slag up to nearly 100 %. Samples taken from metal, slag and dust are analyzed by gamma measurements of the 186 keV line of U235 and the 1001 keV line of Pa234m for U238. All produced ingots showed a remaining activity less than 1 Bq/g and could be released for industrial reuse.

• Research Organization: Siempelkamp Nukleartechnik GmbH, Krefeld (DE); Siemens Power Generation DP, Hanau (DE)
• Sponsoring Organization: none (US)
• OSTI ID: 826375
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CONTAMINATION
DECOMMISSIONING
DECONTAMINATION
EXPLOSIVE FRACTURING
FUEL FABRICATION PLANTS
MANAGEMENT
OFF-GAS SYSTEMS
RADIATION PROTECTION
RECYCLING
RELEASE LIMITS
REMOTE HANDLING
SURFACE CONTAMINATION
URANIUM
WASTE MANAGEMENT