Since 1979, Uranium enrichment technology has been researched through the gas centrifuge method, at Ningyo-toge Environmental Engineering Center of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). In addition, the Demonstration Plant, that is final stage test facilities, was operating continuously from 1988 to 2001. As a result, a lot of residues accumulated in the plant. Most of this accumulation was found be uranium intermediate fluoride. The basic decommission policy of JAEA is that equipments of gas centrifuge will be decontaminated by sulfuric acid immersion method for clearance and reuse. In our plan, approximately 90% of metals will be cleared and reused, and then the remaining 10% will be disposed of radioactive waste. We propose a combination of sulfuric acid immersion method and the systematic chemical decontamination as an efficient method for decontamination of uranium enrichment facilities. This paper focuses on the method and performance of systematic chemical decontamination using IF 7 gas. The following (Figure 1) shows our decommission policy and position of systematic chemical decontamination by IF 7 gas for uranium enrichment plant. The IF 7 treatment technique belongs to the systematic decontamination technology. It has the high performance decontamination technique for the plant that accumulates the uranium intermediate fluoride, such as UF 4 , UF 5 , U 2 F 9 , and U 4 F 17 , which exist in the uranium enrichment plant through the Gas Centrifuge, called GCF. The one of characteristics of the IF 7 treatment, the secondary waste is just an IF 5 and little residues. In addition, this IF 5 can be reused as materials for making new IF 7 gas. The IF 7 treatment can also be performed in the room temperature and very low pressure like a 10–45hPa. Furthermore, the IF 7 treatment is a simple method using chemical reaction. For this reason, we hardly need to care about secondary reaction with the exception of the reaction with IF 7 gas and the uranium intermediate fluoride. This is a very important feature when applying to a large-scale plant. In order to carry out the IF 7 treatment, we only set up a few equipments in GCF uranium enrichment plant, which were IF 7 feeding equipment and two circulating pumps. IF 7 gas cylinders are seated in IF 7 feeding equipment. This is the only equipment. Figure 2 shows the IF 7 treatment system. We carried out the IF 7 treatment for the four cascades in the uranium enrichment Demonstration Plant. The weights of uranium residue in the cascades were approximately 700kgU per cascade prior to the IF 7 treatment. In the IF 7 treatment, we were able to find the near-optimal processing condition. As a result, we could confirm the IF 7 treatment period for one cascade which was 60 days. The main factor to determine the IF 7 treatment period is the pressure and the flow rate of reaction product gas (UF 6 and IF 5 mixture gas) exhausted from the cascade. Although we carried out the IF 7 treatment with the maximum value of the flow rate, which our facility has, it is possible to further shorten the IF 7 treatment period by setting a higher gas flow rate. Moreover, after the IF 7 treatment, we evaluated the uranium recovery rate for cascades and the residues’ uranium weight in the main equipment of GCF. In addition, in the evaluation of the uranium recovery rate, we enable to confirm the uranium recovery rate of all cascades achieved more tan 98%. Furthermore, the average of uranium recovery rate more than 99% in the cascade that has been processed at the end. As a result, radioactive concentration of uranium in the main parts of the GCF fell to 1.0B q/g and below.

World-wide activities focus on the remediation of radioactively contaminated sites. One common aim is to deliver a more profound chemical base for risk assessment, namely all those physico-chemical phenomena governing the contamination plume development in time and space. Coupled transport codes able to tackle this challenge have to simplify the resulting very complex reaction pattern. To do so in an adequate way requires extending the knowledge about retardation and mobilisation phenomena and the underlying basic processes and interactions (e.g. physisorption, chemisorption, surface precipitation). Interactions at the solid-liquid interface can be described by complementary approaches, the empirical K d concept and the mechanistic Surface Complexation Models (SCM). K d ’s are used by most reactive transport and risk assessment codes due to the straightforward numerics involved. In addition, the K d concept is often the only feasible option for complex solid phases. However, the K d concept is a rather simplistic approach. Many very different basic physico-chemical phenomena are subsumed in just one conditional parameter. Therefore, extrapolating K d values may yield very large uncertainties. SCM account adsorption of ions on surface sites as complexation reaction comparable to complexation in solution. The electrical charge at the surface is determined by the chemical reactions of the mineral functional groups, including acid-base reactions and formation of ion pairs and coordinative complexes. The required parameters are site-independent and applicable despite large variations in geochemical conditions. This presents a high potential to increase confidence in safety analysis and risk assessment studies (performance assessment). The mechanistic description of sorption processes with SCM allows a thermodynamically consistent calculation of the species distribution between liquid and solid phase combined with more reliable inter- and extrapolations. However, this requires that all mineral constituents of the solid phase are characterized. Another issue is the large number of required parameters combined with time-consuming iterations. Addressing both approaches, we present two sorption databases, developed mainly by or under participation of the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD). Both databases are implemented as relational databases, assist identification of critical data gaps and the evaluation of existing parameter sets, provide web based data search and analyses and permit the comparison of SCM predictions with K d values. RES 3 T (Rossendorf Expert System for Surface and Sorption Thermodynamics) is a digitized thermodynamic sorption database (see www.fzd.de/db/RES3T.login ) and free of charge. It is mineral-specific and can therefore also be used for additive models of more complex solid phases. ISDA (Integrated Sorption Database System) connects SCM with the K d concept but focuses on conventional K d . The integrated datasets are accessible through a unified user interface. An application case, K d values in Performance Assessment, is given.

MACBECE (Mechanical Analysis system considering Chemical transitions of BEntonite-based and CEment-based materials) is an analysis system to evaluate the long term mechanical behavior in the TRU (TRans Uranium) waste disposal system. TRU wastes are low level radioactive wastes that include long-lived nuclides. MACBECE is the system to calculate mechanical and chemical behavior in the near field including engineered barriers in the TRU waste disposal system, and subsequently to evaluate the hydraulic property in various components. MACBECE can evaluate the mechanical/ hydraulic alterations of two types of barrier materials, cement-based and bentonite-based materials. These materials, in the long-term, may be altered internally by chemical reaction. To evaluate the long-term mechanical behavior due to the chemical transitions, the nonlinear elastic model for the cement-based materials and the elasto-viscoplastic model for the bentonite-based materials were applied, based on the data from various laboratory tests. Also, proposed models based on the data from permeability tests were applied to evaluate the alteration of hydraulic conductivity. So as to realize the high reliable evaluation, the variable-compliance-type constitutive model proposed by Okubo (1992) was newly adopted for the rock creep evaluation in MACBECE. This creep model can express analytically nonlinear visco-elastic behavior and the over-peak-strength state behavior. This paper focuses on the adoptability of rock creep model in MACBECE. Applicability of the rock creep model is verified by conducting the numerical simulations with the long-term mechanical interaction between the TRU waste disposal system and the host rock.

Chloroform and trichloroethene (TCE) are two organic contaminants commonly encountered in ground water. TCE, formerly a common cleaning solvent, is usually associated with contaminated aquifers. Chloroform is usually associated with the chlorination of municipal water. The remediation level for TCE in aquifers is typically 5 ppb, therefore, the analytical method employed for monitoring these analytes must be capable of detecting and quantifying the analytes in the low ppb concentration range. The most common analytical methodology for the determination of TCE or chloroform in water is a purge and trap technique for sample introduction into a gas chromatographic system equipped with electroconductivity or mass spectroscopy detector. The instrumentation has a method limit of detection (LOD) of less than 0.5 ppb for TCE and chloroform, however, the expense, size and complexity of the gas chromatographic techniques limit its use outside the laboratory environment. An alternative to the gas chromatographic method for the analysis of select volatile chlorinated compounds in the low concentration range is an analytical instrument based on a halocarbon-specific optrode. The principle of detection is a quantitative, irreversible chemical reaction (modified Fujiwara reaction) that forms visible light-absorbing products. The operational basis of the optrode is the measure of the time history of the development of the colored (red) product formed by the reaction of the target analytes. The optrode has the selectivity and sensitivity for monitoring TCE and chloroform at the low ppb concentration range in the presence of other volatile chlorinated contaminants. The low-power requirements and simplicity of design make it a good choice for remote operations. This paper presents the analytical results (January 2002, to December 2002) of a panel-mounted instrument used to monitor the influent and effluent water of a TCE treatment facility located in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the analytical results of a well-mounted instrument used to monitor ground water (May 2002, to August 2002) at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

As overview of self-sustaining immobilisation processes is given which describes also new thermochemical and radiogenic heat immobilising schemes based on utilization of both exothermal chemical reactions and radioactive decay energy.

Thermochemical processing method is based on utilization of energy of chemical reactions between components of special exothermic mixtures (termed heat base) to melt radioactive waste and form a vitreous melt after cooling of which a durable monolith product is formed in which radionuclides are fixed. Compositions were studied, structure and properties of final products of thermochemical treatment of ash residue from incineration of solid radioactive waste, spent inorganic ion exchangers (e.g. clinoptililite and silica gel), contaminated clay and sand-based soils, Investigations showed that matrix material is dominantly amorphous and on compliesis to basic requirements to solidified radioactive wast of medium level of activity.