Alpha waste

Kupfer, M. J., Schulz, W. W., Hobbick, C. W. Mendel, J. E. 1976. Glass forms for alpha waste management. American Institute of Chemical Engineering Symposia Series, 72, 90-97. 

Alpha-bearing wastes (also called transuranic, plutonium-contaminated material, or alpha wastes) include wastes that are contaminated with enough long-lived, alpha-emitting nuclides to make near-surface disposal unacceptable. They arise principally from spent fuel reprocessing and mixed-oxide fuel fabrication. The wastes may he disposed of in a similar manner to HLW. 

Like microflltration, ultraflltration process can also be used in conjunction with chemical precipitation techniques to improve decontamination factors. Ultrafiltration processes could be useful for decontaminating alpha wastes from laundry and washing water streams of plutonium-processing plant on a large scale [15,16]. 

Approximately 300 kg of dried metal hydroxide solids would be produced per month from decontamination of 120 m3 of PRF salt waste. These solids could be drummed and stored at Hanford as a retrievable alpha waste. Techniques for incorporating the metal hydroxide solids in an immobile borosilicate glass have been developed also. (12)... 

In this chapter, the primary emphasis will be on HLW. Non-high-level alpha waste, tritium, 1, and Kr wiU be treated to some extent. Volumes and radioactivity concentrations of these wastes to be expected from a 1400 MT/year reprocessing plant according to a German design are given in Table 11.1 [D2]. 

The Management of Fission Products and Long-Lived Alpha Wastes... 

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