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Thermal Process Technology for Nuclear Applications - 20379

ANSTO's Synroc technology has been developed to provide a safe, secure matrix for the immobilization and final disposal of radioactive waste. Synroc technology will be used to manage radioactive wastes from the production of the radioisotope Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). This paper shall outline various stages of the process development with specific reference to the thermal treatment technology of calcination. Calcination is a key step in the Synroc process [1-2].The rotary thermal processing system includes: an advanced heating element design for increased robustness and ease of remote operation and maintenance, an enhanced modular design of components for ease of remote maintenance in a hot cell and in compliance with hot cell radioactive environment requirements for safety, reliability and maintainability. In addition to thermal treatment of waste from nuclear medicine production, this technology provides solutions for a variety of nuclear materials processing applications including sintering UO{sub 2} pellets for reactor fuel rods, oxidation of UO{sub 2} pellets, swarf, and powder to U{sub 3}O{sub 8}, de-nitration of Uranyl nitrate and hydrofluorination of UO{sub 2} pellets. The paper will also discuss thermal processing solutions for a range of nuclear applications. (authors)

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Angular Correlations of Gamma Rays from Fission Product Solution

Fission products from photon-induced fission are routinely used at Idaho National Laboratory as part of nuclear forensics activities. Typically, the focus is on fission products with relatively large fission yields (Ba-140, Mo-99, etc.). The nuclear data associated with the well-known isotopes have small uncertainties, and many have well-known angular correlations between emitted gamma-rays, if applicable. However, for isotopes with smaller fission yields or less intense gamma-ray emission intensities, the nuclear decay schemes and gamma-ray emission intensities may be less well-known. The Germanium Rotational Measurements for Angular Correlation (GeRMAC) system was designed to use two high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors in a coincidence counting set-up but allows one of the HPGe detectors to rotate at a constant distance from a radioactive source, changing the relative angle between the two HPGe detectors. Angular correlations can then be determined from the relative photopeak areas between two gamma-rays emitted as part of the same nuclear decay. By recording the HPGe spectra in list mode, the angular correlations of gamma-rays emitted from complex sources, consisting of multiple isotopes, can be measured simultaneously and the individual isotope emissions can be isolated. Using the GeRMAC system, a multi-isotope fission product source, produced with photon-induced fission of U-238, was measured using a single rotational arc (180 degrees) to obtain the angular correlation between gamma-rays emitted by the large number of fission products contained in the solution with an angular accuracy of 1 degree. In particular, La-140 (38 gamma rays) and Nd-147 (26 gamma rays) are of interest to the nuclear forensics community.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗

Side-reaction products identified for photo-nuclear production of 99 Mo

Production of 99 Mo by the 100 Mo (γ, n) 99 Mo reaction through the bremsstrahlung process using an electron accelerator is one of the feasible options currently pursued by several countries. In this work, we report experimental results on identification of side-reaction products after the irradiation of natural and enriched 100 Mo targets. Side-reaction products identified include various Mo, Nb and Zr isotopes. Comparison of experimentally determined reaction production rates with those determined based on theoretical cross-sections will be presented. Moreover, activation products formed due to presence of impurities introduced during the manufacturing of the Mo targets will also be discussed.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Large-scale dissolution of sintered Mo disks

Non-uranium production of 99 Mo via neutron capture or by photonuclear reaction using an electron accelerator is receiving considerable attention. For commercial production of 99 Mo, post-irradiation processes must incorporate a robust design for easy scale-up. Once developed, large-scale chemical processes must be optimized for hot-cell operations and potential automation. In this work, we present experimental results on the large-scale dissolution of sintered Mo disks using three 50% hydrogen peroxides from different suppliers. Dissolution rates obtained for 600-g Mo batches and potential reasons for different dissolution behaviors is discussed.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

First STAX detector installation at the National Institute for Radioelements (IRE)

The Source Term Analysis of Xenon (STAX) project has been installing stack detectors at medical isotope production facilities to measure radioxenon emissions to investigate the effect of radioxenon releases on nuclear explosion monitoring. This paper outlines the installation of the first STAX detection system at the National Institute for Radioelements (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium which has been operating for over three years and transferring collected data to the STAX repository. Information about the equipment installed, the data flow established, and calculations for determination of radioxenon releases from the facility are presented. Further. data quality was investigated to confirm values reported by STAX automated data processing and in a comparison of collected STAX data with data collected by IRE for regulatory reporting.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Source Term Analysis of Xenon (STAX): An effort focused on differentiating man-made isotope production from nuclear explosions via stack monitoring

An overview of the hardware and software developed for the Source Term Analysis of Xenon (STAX) project is presented which includes the data collection from two stack monitoring systems installed at medical isotope production facilities, infrastructure to transfer data to a central repository, and methods for sharing data from the repository with users. STAX is an experiment to collect radioxenon emission data from industrial nuclear facilities with the goal of developing a better understanding of the global radioxenon background and the effect industrial radioxenon releases have on nuclear explosion monitoring. The final goal of this work is to utilize collected data along with atmospheric transport modeling to calculate the contribution of a peak or set of peaks detected by the International Monitoring System (IMS) to provide desired discriminating information to the International Data Centre (IDC) and National Data Centers (NDCs). Types of data received from the STAX equipment are shown and collected data was used for a case study to predict radioxenon concentrations at two IMS stations closest to the Institute for RadioElements (IRE) in Belgium. The initial evaluation of results indicate that the data is very valuable to the nuclear explosion monitoring community.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Radiological Considerations Supporting the American Medical Isotope Producer Niowave

This report provides a summary of work performed by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) during FY22 in support of Niowave, an American Medical Isotope Production (AMIP) facility. SRNL served in a technical support role, funded by NA-231, supporting Niowave in the beginning of non radiological functional testing of their airport facility in FY22. Through this agreement, SRNL provides Niowave access to subject matter experts (SMEs) for questions that may arise during the drafting of engineering plans, facility policies, and/or response procedures. This report summarizes discussions between SRNL and Niowave about guidance concerning issues with the floor of the hot cells, dispersible removable contamination (beta emitting fission product), hot cell operation specifically utilization of cameras or mirrors, and the process for removing contaminated waste from the hot cell. Lessons learned and other various resources provided to Niowave by SRNL during FY22 are referenced in this report. This work was funded through NNSA’s Office of Material Management and Minimization, Conversion Office (NA-231).

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