Chapter 



Properties of Atomic W^astes 



27 



TABLE 1 Gross Physical and Chemical Char- 

 acteristics OF Strong Aqueous Wastes From 

 Reactor Fuel Recovery Processes ^ 



(Concentrations of non-radioactive components before 



evaporation, neutralization, and treatment for 



fission removal.) 



Range of Molar 



Component Concentrations 



H 0.07 - 7.0 



Al 0.04 - 1.6 



Fe 0.05 



Zr 0.03 - 0.5 



NH4* 0.05 - 2.0 



Cr 0.01 - 1.0 



Ni 0.03 



Sn 0.02 



Mn 0.001 



Hg 0.001- 0.01 



F 0.05 - 3.0 



NO3- 0.14 - 7.0 



SOr 0.2 - 0.5 



Specific Gravity (unconcentrated) . 1.07 - 1.25 



Curies/gal. (100 days cooling).. 80 -5200 

 BTU/hr./gal. (10 days cooling— 



50% gamma, 50% beta) 1.37 - 29.4 



1 From Tables 4 and 5, Status Report on the Dis- 

 posal of Radioactive Wastes, ORNL-CF-57-3-114, 

 F. L. Culler. 



TABLE 2 Short-lived Fission Products per 



1000 Gm U""^ Reactor Charge At 100 Days 



Cooling with 30 Per Cent Burnup ^ 



Fission Half Beta Gamma 



products life 2 Grams curies curies 



Y-90 62 h 4.63 748 — 



Rh-106 30 s 1,514 515 



Ce-144 275 d 4.90 16,332 4,900 



Zr-95 65 d 1.52 32,647 62,356 



Nb-95 35 d 1.61 63,657 65,657 



Y-91 57 d 1.11 28,239 — 



Sr-89 55 d 0.86 23,253 — 



Ru-103 45 d 0.46 13,236 6,618 



Ce-l4l 28 d 0.45 10,004 20,008 



Ba-137 2.6 m — — 508 



Ru-106 290.0 d 0.35 1,514 — 



Pr-143 13.8 d 0.02 1,465 — 



Ba-140 12.5 d 0.02 1,222 305 



La-140 1.7 d — 1,222 1,331 



1-131 8.0 d — 23 29 



Total 15.93 195,076 162,227 



1 From presentation by F. L. Culler, Oak Ridge Na- 

 tional Laboratory, before Meeting on Ocean Disposal 

 of Reactor Wastes, Woods Hole Oceanographic In- 

 stitution, August 5-6, 1954. 



- Abbreviations are s for seconds, m for minutes, 

 h for hours, and d for days. 



TABLE 3 Long-lived Fission Products per 



1000 Gm U'^ Reactor Charge At 100 Days 



Cooling with 30 Per Cent Burnup 1 



Half Beta Gamma 



Fission products life Grams curies curies 



Cs-137 33 y 7.05 563 — 



Sr-90 25 y 4.63 748 — 



Pr-144 17 m 4.90 16,333 17,966 



Te-129 72 m 0.03 1,217 2,435 



Total long-lived 16.61 18,861 20,401 



Inactive fission products . . 230.00 



2 Short T i 15.93 198,564 152,325 



Grand total 262.54 217,425 172,726 



1 From presentation by F. L. Culler, Oak Ridge Na- 

 tional Laboratory, before Meeting on Ocean Disposal 

 of Reactor Wastes, Woods Hole Oceanographic In- 

 stitution, August 5-6, 1954. 



- Short-term fission products from table 2. 



