Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology

To evaluate the efficiency of the decontamination plant for the removal of uranium compounds deposited on the internal surface of UF6 cylinder for its reuse, two demonstration tests of the plant with different ratio of Na2CO3 and H2O2 were carried out, and each test had 5 steps. The main chemical form removed by the tests was to be identified as Na4UO2(CO3)3. More than 50% of uranium was removed by water of the first step, and at the following steps the removal amounts were exponentially decreased. On the other hand, the result shows that the injected amount of Na2CO3, compared with that of the removed uranium, was stoichiometrically excessed. This suggests that the injected amounts of Na2CO3, the generation rate of decontaminated waste, and the decontamination steps could be reduced by a process optimization of the plant.

Keywords

UF6 cylinder,uranium,decontamination,sodium carbonate