AN INITIAL ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES FOR EPSILON-METAL WASTE FORMS

Rohatgi, Aashish ; Strachan, Denis M.

关键词: AR FACILITIES;    CHEMISTRY;    CONTAINMENT;    FLEXIBILITY;    HOT CELLS;    HOT PRESSING;    MAINTENANCE;    MELTING;    NUCLEAR FUELS;    PLASMA;    PROCESSING;    PRODUCTION;    REPROCESSING;    SINTERING;    SOLIDIFICATION;    WASTE FORMS;    WASTES;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1021287
RP-ID  :  PNNL-20313
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1021287
Others  :  Other: AF5805000
Others  :  TRN: US1103958

学科分类：核能源与工程

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

This report examines and ranks a total of seven materials processing techniques that may be potentially utilized to consolidate the undissolved solids from nuclear fuel reprocessing into a low-surface area form. Commercial vendors of processing equipment were contacted and literature researched to gather information for this report. Typical equipment and their operation, corresponding to each of the seven techniques, are described in the report based upon the discussions and information provided by the vendors. Although the report does not purport to describe all the capabilities and issues of various consolidation techniques, it is anticipated that this report will serve as a guide by highlighting the key advantages and disadvantages of these techniques. The processing techniques described in this report were broadly classified into those that employed melting and solidification, and those in which the consolidation takes place in the solid-state. Four additional techniques were examined that were deemed impractical, but were included for completeness. The techniques were ranked based on criteria such as flexibility in accepting wide-variety of feed-stock (chemistry, form, and quantity), ease of long-term maintenance, hot cell space requirements, generation of additional waste streams, cost, and any special considerations. Based on the assumption of ~2.5 L of waste to be consolidated per day, sintering based techniques, namely, microwave sintering, spark plasma sintering and hot isostatic pressing, were ranked as the top-3 choices, respectively. Melting and solidification based techniques were ranked lower on account of generation of volatile phases and difficulties associated with reactivity and containment of the molten metal.