Waste solid alpha

Leach rates for elements other than those listed in Table II can also be determined by this method. In fact, any element in the periodic table that is solid at room temperature and has an activation product with a half-life sufficiently long to allow leach testing can be studied with this technique. This method can also be applied to the study of the leach rates of alpha emitting actinides present in waste. In this case, standard carrier-free radiochemical procedures, coupled with low background alpha counting, would be invoked. 

Low-level transuranic wastes are solid or solidified materials which contain plutonium or other long-hved alpha-particle emitters in known or suspected concentrations higher than 10 nanoCuries per gram and external radiation levels after packaging sufficiently low to allow direct handling. 

Intermediate level transuranic wastes are solids or solidified materials that contain long-lived alpha-particle emitters at concentrations greater... 

EPA. 1986b. Alpha-emitting radium isotopes - method 9315. In Test methods for evaluating solid waste. 3rd ed. SW-846. Washington, DC U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, 9315-1-9315-6. 

Transuranic waste. As described in Section 4.1.2.2.2, transuranic waste originally was defined by AEC as solid waste that contains long-lived, alpha-emitting transuranium radionuclides or 233U in concentrations greater than 0.4 kBq g A Transuranic waste so defined was not generally acceptable for shallow-land burial. 

In 1982, federal agencies concurred with a recommendation to increase the lower limit on concentrations of long-lived, alpha-emitting transuranium radionuclides in transuranic waste from 0.4 to 4 kBq g 1 (Steindler, 1982). This change in the definition of transuranic waste was made in response to difficulties in routinely measuring levels of alpha activity near 0.4 kBq g 1 in bulk solid waste and analyses which indicated that risks to public health from shallow-land burial of transuranium radionuclides in concentrations up to 4 kBq g 1 should be acceptable. 

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)... 

High-Level Solid Waste Treatment. Cladding hulls and dissolver solids are generated as wastes from reprocessing LWR fuels. The alpha activity associated with these head-end wastes is normally low, but as a precautionary measure the WTF provides an area where these wastes may be given an extended tertiary HNO3/KF/ HC1 leach. Experimental studies with mixed-oxide reactor fuels (10,11,12) suggest that actinide losses can be held to 0.01 or less if fluoride and chloride are present in the leachant. 

A litre of waste shown in Table I, when calcined, results in the production of 250 g of total solids. The plot shown in Figure 1 describes significant actinide concentrations in ICPP calcine from a typical raffinate as a function of time. Though uranium and neptunium are present in the calcine, their contribution to alpha activity is not significant. It is apparent that separation factors of xlOO must be attained for the Pu and Am to... 

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