REMOVAL OF ACTINIDES FROM SELECTED NUCLEAR-FUEL REPROCESSING WASTES

The U. S. Department of Energy awarded Oak Ridge National Laboratory a program to develop a cost-risk-benefit analysis of partitioning long-lived nuclides from waste and transmuting them to shorter lived or stable nuclides. Two subtasks of this program were investigated at Rocky Flats. In the first subtask, methods for solubilizing actinides in incinerator ash were tested. Two methods appear to be preferable: reaction with ceric ion in nitric acid or carbonate-nitrate fusion. The second subtask comprises removing actinides from salt wastes likely to be produced during reactor fuel fabrication and reprocessing. A preliminary feasibility study of solvent extraction methods has been completed.