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Comparison of Uranium Release from Spent Fuel and Unirradiated U02in Salt Brine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

W. J. Gray
W. J. Gray*
Affiliation:
Pacific Northwest Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, Washington 99352
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Abstract

Spent fuel and unirradiated U02were previously reported [1] to have exhibited a 100-fold difference in the total amount of uranium released during static leach tests in salt brine. Two additional studies designed to investigate that difference have now been completed. The first study involved leach tests with U02pellets that had been doped with plutonium to simulate the alpha activity in spent fuel. The second study consisted of leach tests on spent fuel specimens that originated in the same reactor assembly as those used in previous tests but handled differently following discharge from the reactor. Results from the recently completed tests show that at least 90% of the reported difference between the dissolution behavior of spent fuel and U02can be attributed to an apparent surface oxidation of the spent fuel specimens after their discharge from the reactor. The effect of alpha radiolysis on the leaching of spent fuel and U02in salt brine in the presence of an air atmosphere was found to be relatively small in these tests.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 84: Symposium L – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management X , 1986 , 141
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1987

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References

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