American Chemists improve actinide recovery processing.

[NNadir]

nuclear wastes other than high-level liquid waste (HLLW) produced in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. One such waste stream is produced by scrubbing the radiolytic and hydrolytic degradation products from extractant solutions with Na₂CO₃. Such wastes are produced during the cleanup of tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP in Purex) and other neutral solvents that are used to recover uranium, plutonium, and the minor actinides from spent light water reactor
(LWR) fuels.

Alcohol extraction may be used to treat such alkaline wastes and thereby permit the partitioning and recycle of actinides from such streams. Neutralizing alkaline wastes in the presence of a suitable alcohol extractant provides a simple method of extracting the degradation products away from the actinides and producing an acidic aqueous stream that can be recycled to Purex or other chemical processes for subsequent actinide recovery. Here alternatives for managing alkaline wastes are presented and discussed, using technology that is compatible with Urex, Purex, and Truex.

Various low-level and intermediate-level aqueous wastes that contain dissolved chemical salts² and small amounts of actinides are produced during fuel reprocessing and refabrication. With respect to possible actinide losses, the most important salt wastes are those generated during the solvent cleanup^3-6 operations (i.e., the sodium carbonate scrub wastes). Potential losses to such salt wastes may be as high as 0.5% of the actinide feed,⁶ but actual losses can be much lower, depending upon the solvent history, accumulative exposure to radiation, and fuel burnup...

The full article is from Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2005, 44, 606-613.

An abstract of the article can be found here:

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/iecred/2005/44/i03/abs/ie0499207.html

The full article from which I have produced an excerpt, requires a subscription.

[buddysmellgood]

1. Can you explain what this means in terms of operating a nuclear power

plant? How significant is this?

[NNadir]

2. It's not incredibly significant right now, but it does represent progress.

In the United States, we currently have a policy of "once through" use of uranium, which is consistent with our "waste" mentality. Our current policies mean that this work will have little commercial application immediately.

Many other countries recycle their spent nuclear fuel to recover valuable materials, including more fuel. The process does involve some risk, risks that not comparable to global climate change or to air pollution, but risks that are nevertheless greater than zero. This process helps lower that small risk further.

The environmental standards to which nuclear energy is held are far more rigorous than the standards to which other energy industries are held on a risk/benefit basis. This is not necessarily a bad thing: Because of the high energy density of nuclear materials, it is possible to meet higher standards.

The encouraging thing about this academic work is first that it took place in the United States and second that it is recent work.

[buddysmellgood]

3. Thanks, I appreciate it.