Availability and Applications of Radioactive and Stable by-Products From the Chemical Processing of Spent Nuclear Power Fuels.

Abstract

I the ace-, comp l & w or uwf&em 5fWornution, appwtur, product or procaa8 dbclomd, or raprersnts €h8t its 1180 wduld not infringe privrtely owned rlphts.In order f o r any by-product from nuclear fuels to be considered f o r recovery and use the following broad c r i t e r i a appear t o be appropriate: 4 1. The by-product must have unique properties which make i t useful and of h i g h enough value t o justify the cost of i t s recovery.

Review of safety issues that pertain to the use of WESF cesium chloride capsules in an irradiator

“…Cesium-133 is stable; and cesium-137 has a half-life of 30.2 years, a specific activity of 87 Ci/g (100% basis), and produces 0.42 Wt per gram (100% basis). The 137 cs/Cs ratio is about 0.43 in freshly discharged fuel (Rohrmann 1971;Walker, Kironac, and Rourke 1977). The decay scheme for cesium-137 to stable barium-137 is shown in Figure 1.2 (Peker 1983).…”

Projection of needs for gamma radiation sources and other radioisotopes and assessment of alternatives for providing radiation sources

“…The 90sr content is further reduced by the natural decay process; thus, in time the product can become so dilute that too little heat is produced to be usable in most applications. Existing designs for power-generation equipment require a minimum 9Dsr/Sr ratio of 0.4 or greater at the start of life, but some thermal applications may use material with a ratio of 0.3 under special conditions (International Study 1966-67;Rohrmann 1968Rohrmann , 1971; 'Characteristics of Radioisotopic Heat Sources" 1973).…”

“…Fission-product rhodium is almost entirely stable 103Rh, with only trace amounts of the radioisotopes 102mRh (tJ/2 • 206 days) and 102Rh (t1;2 • B.I7 2.9 years). Two other radioisotopes, 103mRh and 106Rh, are present from the decay of fission-product ruthenium but decay to undetectable levels in the rhodium in a few days after separation from ruthenium (Rohrmann 1971).…”

“…Krypton-85 has a half-life of 10.72 years and decays to stable 85Rb by emission of betas having a maximum energy of 0.687 MeV accompanied by a low yield (0.41%} gamma having an energy of 0.514 MeV. The heat produced by 85Kr decay is 0.623 Wt (watts thermal} per gram, and the specific activity is 392 curies per gram (Chart of the Nuclides 1977;Rohrmann 1968;and Rohrmann 1971). Thus 85Kr is a useful heat source, its beta energy can be used to produce light, and the gamma activity can be used in nondestructive testing applications (International Study of Terrestrial Applications of Radioisotopic Power Sources 1966Sources -1967Eggers and Gaurthrop 1975;and Rohrmann 1974).…”