Measurement of trace uranium-235 and plutonium-239, 240 in waste tank material at the Savannah River Site
Abstract
At the Savannah River Site (SRS), large quantities of radioactive liquid waste are evaporated to reduce volume before eventual processing through the In-Tank Precipitation process. Actinides in the liquid waste are only slightly soluble in the highly alkaline waste solution. Since some of the actinide isotopes are fissionable, the quantities being processed through the evaporator system are of interest. To better quantify the concentration and mass of fissionable material entering the evaporator system and eventually deposited as salt, analysis of the actinide elements were necessary. The predominant fissionable actinide isotopes of interest are U{sup 235} and Pu{sup 239}. To enable the reliable measurement of these radionuclides, the Central Laboratory has developed high speed separation techniques to measure U{sup 235} content by Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry and Pu{sup 239,240} by alpha spectrometry. Due to the high radioactivity levels in the samples all separations are performed in shielded analytical cells. Uranium is purified and concentrated using a high speed extraction chromatography technique that employs applied vacuum and columns containing tri (2-ethylene) phosphate solvent coated on a small particle inert support. The uranium method enables measurement of U{sup 235} concentrations to 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}4} g/L. Plutonium is purified and concentrated using amore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 10167154
- Report Number(s):
- WSRC-MS-92-049; CONF-9207102-21
ON: DE92018535
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC09-89SR18035
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) annual meeting,Orlando, FL (United States),19-22 Jul 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; RADIOACTIVE WASTES; SEPARATION PROCESSES; QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; URANIUM 235; EXTRACTION; ISOTOPE DILUTION; MASS SPECTROSCOPY; PLUTONIUM 239; PLUTONIUM 240; ION EXCHANGE; ALPHA SPECTROSCOPY; SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT; 400702; 400105; PROPERTIES OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS; SEPARATION PROCEDURES
Citation Formats
Mahannah, F N, and Maxwell, III, S L. Measurement of trace uranium-235 and plutonium-239, 240 in waste tank material at the Savannah River Site. United States: N. p., 1992.
Web.
Mahannah, F N, & Maxwell, III, S L. Measurement of trace uranium-235 and plutonium-239, 240 in waste tank material at the Savannah River Site. United States.
Mahannah, F N, and Maxwell, III, S L. 1992.
"Measurement of trace uranium-235 and plutonium-239, 240 in waste tank material at the Savannah River Site". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10167154.
@article{osti_10167154,
title = {Measurement of trace uranium-235 and plutonium-239, 240 in waste tank material at the Savannah River Site},
author = {Mahannah, F N and Maxwell, III, S L},
abstractNote = {At the Savannah River Site (SRS), large quantities of radioactive liquid waste are evaporated to reduce volume before eventual processing through the In-Tank Precipitation process. Actinides in the liquid waste are only slightly soluble in the highly alkaline waste solution. Since some of the actinide isotopes are fissionable, the quantities being processed through the evaporator system are of interest. To better quantify the concentration and mass of fissionable material entering the evaporator system and eventually deposited as salt, analysis of the actinide elements were necessary. The predominant fissionable actinide isotopes of interest are U{sup 235} and Pu{sup 239}. To enable the reliable measurement of these radionuclides, the Central Laboratory has developed high speed separation techniques to measure U{sup 235} content by Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry and Pu{sup 239,240} by alpha spectrometry. Due to the high radioactivity levels in the samples all separations are performed in shielded analytical cells. Uranium is purified and concentrated using a high speed extraction chromatography technique that employs applied vacuum and columns containing tri (2-ethylene) phosphate solvent coated on a small particle inert support. The uranium method enables measurement of U{sup 235} concentrations to 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}4} g/L. Plutonium is purified and concentrated using a high speed anion exchange technique. The Pu method enables measurements of Pu{sup 239,240} to 2 {times} 10{sup {minus}6} g/L.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/10167154},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992},
month = {Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992}
}