MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATION OF RADIONUCLIDE ACTIVITIES IN SAVANNAH RIVER SITE HIGH LEVEL WASTE SLUDGE FOR ACCEPTANCE OF DEFENSE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY GLASS IN A FEDERAL REPOSITORY
This paper describes the results of the analyses of High Level Waste (HLW) sludge slurry samples and of the calculations necessary to decay the radionuclides to meet the reporting requirement in the Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS) [1]. The concentrations of 45 radionuclides were measured. The results of these analyses provide input for radioactive decay calculations used to project the radionuclide inventory at the specified index years, 2015 and 3115. This information is necessary to complete the Production Records at Savannah River Site's Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) so that the final glass product resulting from Macrobatch 5 (MB5) can eventually be submitted to a Federal Repository. Five of the necessary input radionuclides for the decay calculations could not be measured directly due to their low concentrations and/or analytical interferences. These isotopes are Nb-93m, Pd-107, Cd-113m, Cs-135, and Cm-248. Methods for calculating these species from concentrations of appropriate other radionuclides will be discussed. Also the average age of the MB5 HLW had to be calculated from decay of Sr-90 in order to predict the initial concentration of Nb-93m. As a result of the measurements and calculations, thirty-one WAPS reportable radioactive isotopes were identified for MB5. The total activity of MB5 sludge solids will decrease from 1.6E+04 {micro}Ci (1 {micro}Ci = 3.7E+04 Bq) per gram of total solids in 2008 to 2.3E+01 {micro}Ci per gram of total solids in 3115, a decrease of approximately 700 fold. Finally, evidence will be given for the low observed concentrations of the radionuclides Tc-99, I-129, and Sm-151 in the HLW sludges. These radionuclides were reduced in the MB5 sludge slurry to a fraction of their expected production levels due to SRS processing conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 945388
- Report Number(s):
- SRNS-STI-2008-00078; TRN: US0900798
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2009
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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