100 TRANSURANIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT 



TABLE 5 High-Level Liquid Waste (TRU) 



*38 metric tons heavy metal must pass through 

 the cycle to generate 1 GW(e)-yr. 



IContent 1.5 yr after removal from reactor. 



dissolver and vessel off-gases and the ventilation air through an atmospheric protection 

 system (APS). This system is comprised of a Group III prefilter followed by a single bank 

 of HEPA filters. After treatment the gas is released througli a stack to the atmosphere. 

 Vaporized excess water and the off-gases arising from UF^ conversion are sent directly to 

 the stack without treatment. 



The treatment in case 2 (Fig. 1) directs the dissolver off-gas through iodine, carbon, 

 and krypton removal systems and the vessel off-gas through a filter, an iodine recovery 

 system, and a nitrogen oxide removal system before entry into the APS. The remaining 

 streams are handled in the same manner as in case 1. In the reference processes, iodine is 

 removed by reaction with a silver-loaded adsorbent; carbon is captured in the form of 

 CO2 on a zeolite (molecular sieve) and converted to calcium carbonate; and krypton is 

 cryogenically liquefied along with xenon and argon, followed by fractionation. Removing 

 iodine, carbon, and krypton in conjunction with the APS results in about twice the 

 reduction in transuranic activity discharged as with the APS alone. 



Mixed-Oxide-Fuel Fabrication Wastes 



Tlie wastes from mixed-oxide-fuel fabrication are shown in Table 8. It is assumed that 

 about 20% of the fuel is mixed oxide; thus 7.6 metric tons of mixed oxide is equivalent 

 to 1 GW(e)-yr for the reference system. 



There are no unique waste streams from the mixed-oxide-fuel fabrication plant such 

 as those which occur at the fuel reprocessing plant. All are general-operations wastes and 



