Cesium-137 nuclear fuel reprocessing

Nuclear reactor waste and accidental releases such as the Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine lelease some cesium-137 to the environment. Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant wastes may introduce small amounts to the environment. However, the U.S. does not currently reprocess spent nuclear fuel. 

There are many examples of the studies on SLM for nuclear applications in the literature. SLMs were tested for high-level radioactive waste treatment combined with removal of actinides and other fission products from the effluents from nuclear fuel reprocessing plants. The recovery of the species, such as uranium, plutonium, thorium, americium, cerium, europium, strontium, and cesium, was investigated in vari-ons extracting-stripping systems. Selective permeation... 

Alkali metals (K, Rb, Cs) behave similarly and sometimes one is accumulated preferentially when another is deficient. A similar case is made for Sr and Ca (Whicker and Schultz 1982a). The most important alkali metal isotope is Cs because of its long physical half-life (30 years) and its abnndance as a fission prodnct in fallout from nuclear weapons and in the inventory of a nuclear reactor or a fuel-reprocessing plant. Cesium behaves much like potassium. It is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and distribnted throughout the active tissues of the body, especially muscle. The P and y radiation from the decay of Cs and its daughter, Ba, result in essentially whole-body irradiation that harms bone marrow (Hobbs and McClellan 1986). 

The counting techniques described in this paper are also readily applicable to studies of "hot radioactive waste (z.e.j radioactive waste from reprocessed nuclear fuel). With this type of material, the cesium can be analyzed as 30-y (662-keV y), the RE as 13-y Eu (964-keV and 1408-keV y), strontium as 28-y Sr (after chemical separation and beta counting), and the actinides by group separation and alpha counting. 

Radioactive wastes come directly from nuclear-reactor-fuel reprocessing plants and from industries employing radioactivity for processing work. The dominating elements from nuclear reactor fuels are cesium 137 and strontium 90, with the latter th,e controlling isotope owing to low permissible concentration values (Table 10-2). Rodger cites an example to illustrate the severity of the problem. In the year a.d. 2000 the installed reactor capacity on a world-wide basis is predicted to be 2.2 X 10 Mw. If this system is operated for 50 years, the Sr steady-state level (rate of production = rate of decay) would be 8.6 X 10 curies, which would require 5 per cent of the entire world ocean volume to dilute to the maxi-... 

Spent fuel from a reactor contains unused uranium as well as plutonium-239 which has been created by bombardment of neutrons during the fission process. Mixed with these useful materials are other highly radioactive and hazardous fission products, such as cesium-137 and strontium-90. Since reprocessed fuels contain plutonium, well suited for making nuclear weapons, concern has been expressed over the possible capture of some of this material by agents or terrorists operating on behalf of unfriendly governments that do not have a nuclear weapons capability. 

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