Volume Reduction and Plutonium Recovery in alpha Wastes by Cryogenic Crushing and Lixiviation

摘要

The plutonium industry generates solid alpha wastes of medium activity called ''technological wastes''. They are mainly produced during the fabrication and reprocessing of nuclear reactor fuels and they are of a wide variety, i.e., vinyl bags, gloves, glass, steel materials used in glove box operation. These wastes contain relevant residual quantities of uranium and plutonium in the form of oxides or nitrates, reaching up to several dozen grams per cubic meter. Up to the beginning of the eighties, they were conditionned without any treatment and stored as such on the production site. However, for an economic and safe storage, recovering of the plutonium contained in these waste streams and reduction of their volume is of obvious importance. At the plutonium ''Complexe de Fabrication des Combustibles de Cadarache'' was developed a new technical solution of this problem that combines cryogenic crushing of the solid waste and plutonium recovery from the crushed material by chemical lixiviation. The first results obtained in applying this system on the industrial scale are reported briefly. (ERA citation 12:003457)