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Synthesis and Characterization of Non-Aqueous [Tc X M-PW11O39] n – with M = O, N: Comparing Tc V and Tc VI in Metal Oxide Matrices

Technetium-99, a prevalent by-product of the nuclear fuel cycle, is a transition metal with 9 accessible oxidation states and a half-life of 2.1 × 10 5 years. 99 Tc VII has been found in the environment surrounding National Lab sites and fuel reprocessing centers, and its separation and long-term storage is complicated by its extensive redox chemistry. In our prior work we have reported the synthesis and reduction of Tc V O to Tc IV O in α 1- and α 2 -Wells–Dawson P 2 W 17 O 61 10- polyoxometalates and reported on the polyoxometalate features that promote reduction and stabilization. In this work we report on the oxidation state stabilization of Tc V O, Tc VI O and Tc VI N within the α-Keggin PW 11 O 39 7- polyoxometalate. Both Density Functional Theory and experimental results show that Tc in TBA 4 [Tc VI N-PW 11 O 39 ] can be reduced to TcV, but any subsequent electrons reduce the tungsten framework of the polyoxometalate. TBA 4 [Tc V O-PW 11 O 39 ] however, can be theoretically reduced down to Tc(I) before reduction of the polyoxometalate occurs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Thermodynamic parameters for the complexation of technetium(IV) with EDTA

Technetium-99 is a high yield (~6% fission yield) fission product and long-lived (2.13×10 5 year half-life) component of nuclear waste that will be disposed of in a geological repository. Some 99 Tc has been released into the environment due to nuclear fuel and weapon production activities at sites such as Hanford, WA. Strongly complexing ligands such as ethylenediamine- N , N , N ', N '-tetraacetic acid (EDTA) are known to increase Tc(IV) solubility and mobility in environmental systems and an accurate quantification of the complexation of Tc(IV) with EDTA is important for predicting its behavior in a geological repository. A liquid–liquid extraction system utilizing 0.2 M TOPO in dodecane was used to measure the stability constants of Tc(IV)-EDTA in 0.50 m NaNO 3 at variable temperatures (14.0±0.1, 25.0±0.1, and 32.0±0.1°C). The acid dependence of the apparent stability constants in the p C H range of 2.00–2.70 indicated the formation of TcO(EDTA) 2- (log β 101 =17.9±0.3, 25.0±0.1°C) and a protonated complex TcO(H)(EDTA) - (log β 111 =20.5±0.1, 25.0±0.1°C). The associated thermodynamic parameters Δ r G 101 =-101.7±0.4 kJ·mol -1 , Δ r H 101 =-47±9 kJ·mol -1 , Δ r S 101 =179±36 J·mol -1 ·K -1 , Δ r G 111 =-117.2±0.3 kJ·mol -1 , Δ r H 111 =-23±5 kJ·mol -1 , and Δ r S 111 =315±63 J·mol -1 ·K -1 (0.50 m NaNO 3 , 25.0±0.1°C) were determined by van’t Hoff analysis. The formation of each Tc(IV)–EDTA complex is exothermic and present favorable entropy terms.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Technetium Sorption by Cementitious Materials Under Reducing Conditions

The objective of this study was to measure Tc sorption to cementitious materials under reducing conditions to simulate Saltstone Disposal Facility conditions. Earlier studies were conducted and the experimental conditions were found not to simulate those of the facility. Through a five month subcontract with Clemson University, sorption of 99 Tc to four cementitious materials was examined within an anaerobic glovebag targeting a 0.1% H 2 (g)/ 99.9% N 2 (g) atmosphere. Early experiments based on Tc sorption and Eh indicated that 0.1% H 2 (g) (a reductant) was necessary to preclude experimental impacts from O 2 (g) diffusion into the glovebag. Preliminary data to date (up to 56 days) indicates that sorption of 99 Tc to cementitious materials increased with increasing slag content for simulated saltstone samples. This is consistent with the conceptual model that redox active sulfide groups within the reducing slag facilitate reduction of Tc(VII) to Tc(IV). These experiments differ from previous experiments where a 2% H 2 (g) atmosphere was maintained (Kaplan et al., 2011 (SRNL-STI-2010-00668)). The impact of the 2% H 2 (g) reducing atmosphere on this data was examined and determined to cause the reduction of Tc in experimental samples without slag. In the present ongoing study, after 56 days, Tc sorption by the 50-year old cement samples (no slag) was undetectable, whereas Tc sorption in the cementitious materials containing slag continues to increase with contact time (measured after 1, 4, 8, 19 and 56 days). Sorption was not consistent with spike concentrations and steady state has not been demonstrated after 56 days. The average conditional K d value for the Vault 2 cementitious material was 6,362 mL/g (17% slag), for the TR547 Saltstone (45% slag) the conditional K d was 1258 mL/g, and for TR545 (90% slag) the conditional K d was 12,112 mL/g. It is anticipated that additional samples will be collected until steady state conditions are established to permit measuring more representative K d and solubility values under these experimental conditions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Molybdenum-99 from Molten Salt Reactor as a Source of Technetium-99m for Nuclear Medicine: Past, Current, and Future of Molybdenum-99

Technitium-99m ( 99m Tc), a widely used radioisotope, is used in tens of millions of medical diagnostic procedures annually. However, it is hard to store and must be immediately used upon production due to its short half-life (i.e., 6 h); thus, it is currently produced from 99 Mo, which itself is a result of 235 U fission. The majority of 99 Mo supplies to U.S. patients are currently provided by foreign producers and produced using highly enriched uranium (HEU). In order to minimize the proliferation risks of HEU-based medical isotope production, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has funded a program to accelerate the development of technologies to produce 99 Mo without the use of HEU. Today, the global supply of 99 Mo depends on a limited number of nuclear reactors, and production has been interrupted unexpectedly since 2009 due to the fleet’s advanced age. Herein, alternative options for 99 Mo production are discussed, and one potential option is to obtain 99m Tc from molten salt reactors (MSRs). A MSR is a nuclear fission reactor that can operate at or close to atmospheric pressure with liquid fuel, which allows for producing isotopes in a timely manner. In this paper, the past and current production of 99 Mo via nuclear reactors is described, and the future of 99 Mo production by MSRs is discussed. The behavior and chemical properties of molybdenum in fluoride salts in MSRs and the possible extraction methods are also examined in addition to the limitation of current studies.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Technetium Sorption By Cementitious Materials Under Reducing Conditions

The objective of this study was to measure Tc sorption to cementitious materials under reducing conditions to simulate Saltstone Disposal Facility conditions. Earlier studies were conducted and the experimental conditions were found not to simulate those of the facility. Through a five month subcontract with Clemson University, sorption of 99Tc to four cementitious materials was examined within an anaerobic glovebag targeting a 0.1% H 2 (g)/ 99.9% N 2 (g) atmosphere. Early experiments based on Tc sorption and Eh indicated that 0.1% H 2 (g) (a reductant) was necessary to preclude experimental impacts from O 2 (g) diffusion into the glovebag. Preliminary data to date (up to 56 days) indicates that sorption of 99 Tc to cementitious materials increased with increasing slag content for simulated saltstone samples. This is consistent with the conceptual model that redox active sulfide groups within the reducing slag facilitate reduction of Tc(VII) to Tc(IV).

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Chalcogen-Based Aerogels as Sorbents for Radionuclide Remediation

The efficient capture of radionuclides having long half-lives such as technetium-99 (99Tc), uranium-238 (238U), and iodine-129 (129I) is pivotal to prevent their transport into groundwater and/or release into the atmosphere. While different sorbents have been considered for capturing each of them, in the current work, a new nanostructured chalcogen-based aerogel, called a chalcogel, is shown to be very effective to capture ionic forms of 99Tc and 238U, as well as nonradioactive gaseous iodine (i.e., a surrogate for 129I), irrespective of the sorbent polarity. Some of the chalcogels performed better than others but the PtGeS sorbent performed the best with capture efficiencies of 98% and 99.4% for 99Tc and 238U, respectively. All sorbents showed >99% capture efficiency for iodine over the test duration. This unified sorbent would be an attractive option in environmental remediation for various radionuclides associated with legacy wastes from nuclear weapons production, wastes from nuclear power production, or potential future nuclear fuel reprocessing.

chalcogel↗

Investigations Into the Nature of Alkaline Soluble, Non-Pertechnetate Technetium

This report summarizes work accomplished in fiscal year (FY) 2013, exploring the chemistry of a low-valence technetium(I) species, [Tc(CO) 3 (H 2 O) 3 ] + , a compound of interest due to its implication in the speciation of alkaline-soluble technetium in several Hanford tank waste supernatants. Various aspects of FY 2013’s work were sponsored both by Washington River Protection Solutions and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection; because of this commonality, both sponsors’ work is summarized in this report. There were three tasks in this FY 2013 study. The first task involved examining the speciation of [(CO) 3 Tc(H 2 O) 3 ] + in alkaline solution by 99 Tc nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The second task involved the purchase and installation of a microcalorimeter suitable to study the binding affinity of [(CO) 3 Tc(H 2 O) 3 ] + with various inorganic and organic compounds relevant to Hanford tank wastes, although the actual measure of such binding affinities is scheduled to occur in future FYs. The third task involved examining the chemical reactivity of [(CO) 3 Tc(H 2 O) 3 ] + as relevant to the development of a [(CO) 3 Tc(H 2 O) 3 ] + spectroelectrochemical sensor based on fluorescence spectroscopy.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Impact of zero valent iron aging on reductive removal of technetium-99

Zero valent iron (ZVI) is a promising material for reductive removal of technetium from industrial waste streams. An example application of this method could be to treatment of low activity aqueous waste that is currently stored in tanks at the Hanford site. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the useful lifetime of ZVI for treatment and the changes in reductive removal of Tc over time. In this research, we studied the reductive removal of Tc from aqueous solutions by ZVI aged with up to 30 days by contact with 0.08 M NaCl solutions. These results show that ZVI could be used to remove Tc(VII) from aqueous solutions by its reduction to the less soluble and relatively immobile Tc(IV) with greater than 99% removal in three hours. Still, greater than 90% of Tc is removed with ZVI aging up to one week. However, after 10 days of aging of zero valent iron, a significant decrease in removal of Tc occurs (55% removal at three hours) followed by negligible removal after aging for two weeks or more which is consistent with formation of iron oxides on the surface. Further, these results correlate with XRD and FTIR analysis showing an increase in magnetite followed by maghemite and goethite with aging time.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Investigation of variable compositions on the removal of technetium from Hanford Waste Treatment Plant low activity waste melter off-gas condensate simulant

The Low Activity Waste (LAW) vitrification facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will generate an aqueous condensate recycle stream (LAW Off-Gas Condensate) from the offgas system. The plan for disposition of this stream during baseline operations is to send it to the WTP Pretreatment Facility, where it will be blended with LAW, concentrated by evaporation and recycled to the LAW vitrification facility again. The primary reason to recycle this stream is so that the semi-volatile 99 Tc isotope eventually becomes incorporated into the glass. This stream also contains non-radioactive salt components that are problematic in the melter, so diversion of this stream to another process would eliminate recycling of these salts and would enable simplified operation of the LAW melter and the Pretreatment Facilities. This diversion from recycling this stream within WTP would have the effect of decreasing the LAW vitrification mission duration and quantity of glass waste. The concept being tested here involves removing the 99 Tc so that the decontaminated aqueous stream, with the problematic salts, can be disposed elsewhere.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Bench scale experiments for the remediation of Hanford Waste Treatment Plant low activity waste melter off-gas condensate

The Low Activity Waste (LAW) vitrification facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will generate an aqueous condensate recycle stream (LAW Off-Gas Condensate) from the off-gas system. The plan for disposition of this stream during baseline operations is to send it to the WTP Pretreatment Facility, where it will be blended with LAW, concentrated by evaporation and recycled to the LAW vitrification facility again. The primary reason to recycle this stream is so that the semi-volatile 99Tc isotope eventually becomes incorporated into the glass. This stream also contains non-radioactive salt components that are problematic in the melter, so diversion of this stream to another process would eliminate recycling of these salts and would enable simplified operation of the LAW melter and the Pretreatment Facilities. This diversion from recycling this stream within WTP would have the effect of decreasing the LAW vitrification mission duration and quantity of glass waste. The concept being tested here involves removing the 99 Tc so that the decontaminated aqueous stream, with the problematic salts, can be disposed elsewhere.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Technetium-99M generator for enriched molybdenum

A method for separating a parent isotope from a daughter isotope is provided, the method comprising supplying irradiated target; dissolving the irradiated target; treating the dissolved irradiated target to a precipitation step to form a first solid phase of the parent isotope and a first liquid phase of the daughter isotope; filtering the first liquid phase of daughter isotope to create a first purified fraction of the daughter isotope to create a second solid phase of the parent isotope and a second liquid phase of the daughter isotope; and filtering the second liquid phase to create a second liquid fraction of the daughter isotope. The process can be repeated until the 99 Mo is exhausted and the enriched target material 98 Mo or 100 Mo can be easily re-used.

Brown, Michael A.↗

Solid-liquid Separation Testing for the Remediation of Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Low Activity Waste Melter Off-Gas Condensate

The Low Activity Waste (LAW) vitrification facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will generate an aqueous condensate stream (LAW Off-Gas Condensate) from the off-gas system. The plan for disposition of this stream during Direct Feed LAW operations is to transfer it to the Effluent Management Facility (EMF), where it will be concentrated by evaporation and recycled to the LAW vitrification facility again. The primary reason to recycle this stream is so that the semi-volatile 99Tc isotope eventually becomes incorporated into the glass. However, this stream also contains non-radioactive salt components that are problematic in the melter, so diversion of this stream to another process would eliminate recycling of these salts and would enable simplified operation of the LAW melter and the Pretreatment Facilities. This diversion from recycling this stream within WTP would have the effect of decreasing the quantity of glass waste produced by allowing further increases in waste loading, resulting in a shortened LAW vitrification mission duration. The concept being tested here involves selectively removing the 99 Tc so that the decontaminated aqueous stream, with the problematic salts, can be disposed as a different waste form and avoid reprocessing through vitrification.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Tc removal from the waste treatment and immobilization plant low-activity waste vitrification off-gas recycle

Vitrification of Low Activity Waste in the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant generates a condensate stream from the off-gas processes. Components in this stream are partially volatile and accumulate to high concentrations through recycling, which impacts the waste glass loading and facility throughput. The primary radionuclide that vaporizes and accumulates in the stream is 99 Tc. This program is investigating Tc removal via reductive precipitation with stannous chloride to examine the potential for diverting this stream to an alternate disposition path. As a result, research has shown stannous chloride to be effective, and this paper describes results of recent experiments performed to further mature the technology.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Irradiation of Mo-100 Targets and Testing Fe(ll)CI 2 Precipitation for Tc-99 Removal

The production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) is a critical step in the generation of technetium-99m (Tc-99m), a radioisotope widely used in medical imaging. NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC is planning to produce the important medical radioisotope Mo-99 through a photonuclear reaction on molybdenum-100 (Mo-100). Accelerator production of Mo-99 using enriched Mo-100 targets yields undesirable isotopes, such as niobium-95 (Nb-95) and zirconium-95 (Zr-95). Previous studies reported that Nb and Zr isotopes can be effectively removed from Mo-99 products through coprecipitation with Fe(III). To enable the potential utilization of the first milking of Tc-99m from a Mo-99/Tc-99m generator, it is desirable to remove long-lived Tc-99. This can be accomplished by substituting Fe(III) with Fe(II) during the precipitation step, without affecting the removal of Zr and Nb isotopes. Previous experiments demonstrated up to 99+% removal of Tc using this method. It was also observed that the presence of hydrogen peroxide significantly impacts Tc removal. This was evident in the processing of enriched Mo-100 targets, where only 25% of Tc was removed. To further investigate this, another irradiation of enriched Mo-100 disks was conducted, followed by Tc-99 removal using Fe(II). Prior to irradiation, experimental conditions for Tc removal were optimized through several test runs using Mo-100 disks spiked with Tc-99. The results of these tests are discussed in this report.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Evidence of Technetium and Iodine from a Sodalite-Bearing Ceramic Waste Form

Current plans for nuclear waste vitrification at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) lack the capacity to treat all of the low activity waste (LAW) that is not encapsulated in the vitrified product. Several technologies are being considered to treat the excess LAW. One such technology is Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR). The FBSR process results in a granular product composed of feldspathoid mineral phases that immobilize the major components in the LAW as well as other contaminants of concern (COCs), with Tc and I expected to be present in sodalite cages formed during the process. In order to meet compressive strength requirements at the Hanford Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF), the granular product may be encapsulated in a monolith. To demonstrate the ability of the technology to serve the mission of managing excess LAW, Single Pass Flow-Through (SPFT) tests have been performed on non-radioactive granular materials and granular materials encapsulated in a geopolymer binder produced at the engineering- and bench-scale as well as a granular product produced at the bench scale with actual Hanford tank waste. SPFT tests were conducted at 40 °C for durations up to 2 months with a flow-through solution buffered at pH 9. The forward reaction rate of the non-radioactive mineral product dissolution based on Si release for the granular product was measured to be (6.2 ± 2.1) × 10-4 g/m2d for the engineering-scale product and (13 ± 4.9) × 10-4 g/m2d for the bench-scale product. The resulting non-radioactive monoliths showed forward reaction rates based on Si release of (3.4 ± 1.1) × 10-4 g/m2d for the engineering-scale material and (4.2 ± 1.5) × 10-4 g/m2d for the bench-scale material demonstrating that encapsulation of the FBSR granular product in a monolith does not significantly alter the performance of the material. Finally, an FBSR granular product created at the bench scale using actual Hanford LAW gave similar release values and also demonstrated that Re and Tc show similar release behavior with a dilute-condition release rate of (1.1 ± 0.5) × 10-4 g/m2d for Tc and (1.6 ± 0.6) × 10-4 g/m2d for Re. We believe that this is the first demonstration to show that Re and I have similar release behavior and that similar behavior of Re and Tc also occurs. These results indicate that the FBSR mineral product may be a suitable supplementary immobilization technique at the Hanford site and they also suggest that both Tc and Re occupy similar sites in the sodalite cage structure.

fluidized bed steam reforming↗

Pertechnetate/perrhenate–capped Zr/Hf–Dihydroxide Dimers: Elucidating Zr–TcO 4 Co–Mobility in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Spent nuclear fuel contains heavy element fission products that must be separated for effective reprocessing for a safe and sustainable nuclear fuel cycle. 93 Zr and 99 Tc are high-yield fission products that co-transport in liquid-liquid extraction processes. Here we seek atomic-level information of this co-extraction process, as well as fundamental knowledge about Zr IV (and Hf IV ) aqueous speciation in the presence of topology-directing ligands such as pertechnetate (TcO 4 – ) and non-radioactive surrogate perrhenate (ReO 4 – ). In this context, we show that the flat tetrameric oxyhydroxyl-cluster [M IV 4 (OH) 8 (H 2 O) 16 ] 8+ (and related polymers) is dissociated by perrhenate/pertechnetate to yield isostructural dimers, M 2 (OH) 2 (XO 4 – ) 6 (H 2 O) 6 • 3H 2 O (M=Zr/Hf IV ; X=Re/Tc VII ), elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. We used these model compounds to understand the pervasive 93 Zr- 99 Tc coextraction with further speciation studies in water, nitric acid, and tetrabutylphosphate (TBP) -kerosene; where the latter two media are relevant to nuclear fuel reprocessing. SAXS (small angle X-ray scattering), compositional evaluation, and where experimentally feasible, ESI-MS (electrospray ionization mass spectrometry) showed that perrhenate/pertechnetate influence Zr/Hf IV -speciation in water. Here, in Zr-XO 4 solvent extraction studies to simulate fuel reprocessing, we provide evidence that TcO 4 – enhances extraction of Zr IV , and compositional analysis of the extracted metal-complexes (Zr-ReO 4 study) is consistent with the crystallized Zr IV 2 (OH) 2 (Re VII O 4 – ) 6 (H 2 O) 6 •dimer.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗