Abstract
In a competitive bidding exercise, AEA Technology at Dounreay won a contract to dispose of 88 tonnes of fast reactor sodium from the KNKII reactor at KarIsruhe, Germany. This sodium comprises of 36 tonnes of 'primary' sodium containing traces of caesium-137 and sodium-22 and 52 tonnes of lightly tritiated 'secondary' sodium. The sodium has been transported solid to Dounreay in 200 litre drums. To fulfil this contract a sodium disposal plant has been designed, constructed, commissioned and put into operation. Following an option study, an aqueous reaction plant design was selected. In this process, sodium is reacted with aqueous caustic soda, producing hydrogen gas and more caustic soda. The hydrogen is diluted with air and vented to atmosphere, and the caustic is neutralised with hydrochloric acid before discharge to the site low-active drain. All effluents - gaseous or liquid - are filtered and treated to remove as much radioactivity as possible before discharge. The main reasons for choosing this design option were that the process was well proven, the reaction is easily controlled by controlling the supply of sodium into the reaction vessel, reaction temperatures are relatively low and the effluent can be easily prepared for discharge. It was also
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Bowser, R;
[1]
Farquhar, J;
[2]
Currie, R
[3]
- AEA Technology, Dounreay (United Kingdom)
- AEA Technology, Harwell (United Kingdom)
- AEA Technology, Windscale (United Kingdom)
Citation Formats
Bowser, R, Farquhar, J, and Currie, R.
The design, construction, commissioning and operation of a plant at Dounreay to dispose of sodium from KNKII.
IAEA: N. p.,
1997.
Web.
Bowser, R, Farquhar, J, & Currie, R.
The design, construction, commissioning and operation of a plant at Dounreay to dispose of sodium from KNKII.
IAEA.
Bowser, R, Farquhar, J, and Currie, R.
1997.
"The design, construction, commissioning and operation of a plant at Dounreay to dispose of sodium from KNKII."
IAEA.
@misc{etde_20089139,
title = {The design, construction, commissioning and operation of a plant at Dounreay to dispose of sodium from KNKII}
author = {Bowser, R, Farquhar, J, and Currie, R}
abstractNote = {In a competitive bidding exercise, AEA Technology at Dounreay won a contract to dispose of 88 tonnes of fast reactor sodium from the KNKII reactor at KarIsruhe, Germany. This sodium comprises of 36 tonnes of 'primary' sodium containing traces of caesium-137 and sodium-22 and 52 tonnes of lightly tritiated 'secondary' sodium. The sodium has been transported solid to Dounreay in 200 litre drums. To fulfil this contract a sodium disposal plant has been designed, constructed, commissioned and put into operation. Following an option study, an aqueous reaction plant design was selected. In this process, sodium is reacted with aqueous caustic soda, producing hydrogen gas and more caustic soda. The hydrogen is diluted with air and vented to atmosphere, and the caustic is neutralised with hydrochloric acid before discharge to the site low-active drain. All effluents - gaseous or liquid - are filtered and treated to remove as much radioactivity as possible before discharge. The main reasons for choosing this design option were that the process was well proven, the reaction is easily controlled by controlling the supply of sodium into the reaction vessel, reaction temperatures are relatively low and the effluent can be easily prepared for discharge. It was also felt that an aqueous reaction plant could be designed to be operated remotely by one operator. The sodium in the drums is melted in a sodium melting station and then drained to a sodium buffer tank, prior to being injected into the reaction vessel. By collecting sodium in the buffer tank, sodium melting can proceed in parallel with sodium disposal allowing a high throughput to be achieved. This plant has been designed to dispose of 100 kg of sodium per hour, requiring a small operating team, suitably shielded from the radiological hazard. The design also ensures that the rate of reaction is controlled and that the effluent discharged to the low-active drain has been properly neutralised. The construction was performed within budget and in the agreed timescale. During inactive commissioning, problems were experienced with the sodium injection nozzle. This resulted in development of an improved nozzle of novel design which has been patented by AEA Technology. This modification enabled the plant to achieve its target throughput of 100 kg per hour and the plant has been put into service to dispose of sodium. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1997}
month = {Nov}
}
title = {The design, construction, commissioning and operation of a plant at Dounreay to dispose of sodium from KNKII}
author = {Bowser, R, Farquhar, J, and Currie, R}
abstractNote = {In a competitive bidding exercise, AEA Technology at Dounreay won a contract to dispose of 88 tonnes of fast reactor sodium from the KNKII reactor at KarIsruhe, Germany. This sodium comprises of 36 tonnes of 'primary' sodium containing traces of caesium-137 and sodium-22 and 52 tonnes of lightly tritiated 'secondary' sodium. The sodium has been transported solid to Dounreay in 200 litre drums. To fulfil this contract a sodium disposal plant has been designed, constructed, commissioned and put into operation. Following an option study, an aqueous reaction plant design was selected. In this process, sodium is reacted with aqueous caustic soda, producing hydrogen gas and more caustic soda. The hydrogen is diluted with air and vented to atmosphere, and the caustic is neutralised with hydrochloric acid before discharge to the site low-active drain. All effluents - gaseous or liquid - are filtered and treated to remove as much radioactivity as possible before discharge. The main reasons for choosing this design option were that the process was well proven, the reaction is easily controlled by controlling the supply of sodium into the reaction vessel, reaction temperatures are relatively low and the effluent can be easily prepared for discharge. It was also felt that an aqueous reaction plant could be designed to be operated remotely by one operator. The sodium in the drums is melted in a sodium melting station and then drained to a sodium buffer tank, prior to being injected into the reaction vessel. By collecting sodium in the buffer tank, sodium melting can proceed in parallel with sodium disposal allowing a high throughput to be achieved. This plant has been designed to dispose of 100 kg of sodium per hour, requiring a small operating team, suitably shielded from the radiological hazard. The design also ensures that the rate of reaction is controlled and that the effluent discharged to the low-active drain has been properly neutralised. The construction was performed within budget and in the agreed timescale. During inactive commissioning, problems were experienced with the sodium injection nozzle. This resulted in development of an improved nozzle of novel design which has been patented by AEA Technology. This modification enabled the plant to achieve its target throughput of 100 kg per hour and the plant has been put into service to dispose of sodium. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1997}
month = {Nov}
}