ENCAPSULATION OF RADIOACTIVE NOBLE-GAS WASTE IN AMORPHOUS ALLOY

Public demand for the containment and safe storage of radioactive waste materials has caused the U. S. Government to require that, beginning in January 1983, most of the **8**5Kr, which until now has been vented to the atmosphere during the reprocessing of nuclear fision fuel rods, will have to be captured and retained for several decades. The cost of accomplishing this with present compressed-gas technology is enough to increase the cost of nuclear generated electricity by an estimated 0. 3%. However, materials developed for amorphous magnetic bubble memory devices have been found to be capable of storing large quantities of Kr (30 atomic percent) with great stability up to temperatures above 1070 K. The cost of **8**5Kr storage in the magnetic bubble memory material appears to be less than 1% of that for present compressed-gas technology.