Chemical Engineering Division waste management programs. Quarterly report, January--March 1975

Abstract

Warranty. express or implied, m assumes any legal subcontracton, or their employees, makes any lability or responsibility for the accuracy. completeness 0, usefulnen of any information, apparatus. product or WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS process disclosed. or represents that its use would not infringe priwtety owned rights. Previous reports in this series .. QUARTERLY REPORTJanuary ANL-8106 January-March 1974 ANL-8134April-June 1974 July-September 1974 ANL-75-23 October-December 1974 ' DISTRIBUTION OE THIS DOCUMENT IS UNLIMITED,0$* Ignition Tests with Tubing . THIS PAGE WAS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. . . . . 2.Ignition Tests with Zircaloy Turnings. . 3.Ignition Tests with Zircaloy Fines . . 4.Ignition Tests on Zinc-Coated Tubing . . . 5.Oxidation of Zircaloy Tubing in Air. 13.14. 15.Well Logging Methods and their Applications. ABSTRACT Development work on the study of consolidation techniques·for Zircaloy fuel-cladding hulls included scouting tests on volatility schemes for separating the zirconium as the volatile tetrachloride and ignition tests on several Zircaloy materials to further characterize the pyrophoric behavior of Zircaloy. All tests were with nonirradiated metal pending_acquisition of irradiated samples. In hydrochlorination runs with anhydrous HCl, analyses of the condensed overhead products and reaction-boat residues tended to confirm the expected behavior of the key elements, and indicate that a highly decontaminated zirconium product and a consolidated plutoniumcontaining fraction may be attainable. Studies on a pyrochemical approach using molten zinc chloride to separate the zirconium as the tetrachloride show that considerable flexibility exists in the choice of salt-to-metal compositions.Small-scale .ignition tests using zirconium igniter powders indicated that Zircaloy tubing, per se, does not exhibit pyrophoricity in air, even at temperatures approaching the melting point of the metal, whereas some types of fines can be ignited with a match.Installation is nearly complete of a glovebox facility for studies on the salvage of alpha-contaminated metals by pyrochemical methods. Steel-melting experiments with ·noncontaminated metal are in progress, using stand-in materials for plutonium. Cqmpatibility of slagging materials and crucible materials is being examined in the initial studies.Disposal of a major portion of fission product tritium formed in light water reactor fuels by deep-well injection of the low-level aqueous waste (LLAW) from plants reprocessing such fuels is. being evaluated. The question of siting is a very important factor in determining the feasibility of this particular disposal option. The influence of geologic and hydrologic considerations in the choice of a disposal well site are reviewed. The various geophysical parameters characterizing the ability of the receiving stratum to hold and to transmit fluids are described. The acquisition of 2 information on these parameters by testing or from records is discussed. The use of geophysical parameters to predict the response of ...