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5 Comments on Specific Separation Technologies
Pages 50-57

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From page 50...
... , collecting samples poses a possible radon daughter contamination hazard. Prior to obtaining an actual salt sample, tests with irradiated surrogate salts should be continued.
From page 51...
... precipitation is unlikely because of its solubility in the salt, although local solubility excess could occur. Use of an internal heat source for remelting the solidified MSRE salts directly within the two drain tanks has been suggested by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
From page 52...
... Because HE does not oxidize uranium beyond the TV oxidation state, this hydrofluorination procedure would be primarily a measure to ensure that any uranium in diffusive contact with gas in the system is not reduced below that state. Alternative Fluorinating Agents As discussed in Chapter 2, radiolysis of transported UFO would produce a variety of lower uranium fluorides' some of which can be refluorinated easily to UFO and some that might not react at temperatures below 500°C unless fluoridating agents stronger than F2 are used (e.g., bromine pentafluoride [BrF5]
From page 53...
... The panel believes that its application to MSRE salts should not be considered unless fluorination treatment fails and only after use of an electrorefining system has been demonstrated on MSRE salts. Pilot plant demonstration of this technique ton chIoride-based pyrochemical processing of spent fuels Tom the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II)
From page 54...
... The panel recommends that consideration be given to dropping this process from the list of alternatives unless significant and favorable additional information becomes available. AQUEOUS DISSOLUTION AND SEPARATION Another alternative is to dissolve the 4650 kg of fluoride salt in an aqueous solvent and isolate the uranium and plutonium by known aqueous processing techniques.
From page 55...
... If aqueous processing is done on-site, questions of what to do with the waste still remain, except that the volume of waste generated would be much greater than from nonaqueous means. This larger volume is derived from the low solubility of MSRE fluoride salts in dilute mineral acids, which implies that significant clilution with water is required.
From page 56...
... In either case, the fluoride ions present in the solution must be removed prior to continued aqueous chemical processing, whether by ion exchange, solvent extraction, or precipitation. Conclusions on Aqueous Processing Because aqueous processing is the basic technology for separations work in this field, it was reviewed as a candidate for application to MSRE salts.
From page 57...
... Some nuclear criticality safety issues are specific to a particular processing route, such as aqueous processing. As another example, solubilizing the entire salt mass prior to any uranium removal in a fluorination process would pose a greater hazard than remelting and fluoridating a smaller mass.


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