Determination of transuranium elements in nuclear power plant wastes

Abstract

During the operation of nuclear reactors, various a-emitting isotopes and activation products, coming from the surface contamination of fuel elements or from the fuel itself due to leaking through possible cracks or damage of the enclosure, may appear in nuclear power plant wastes. It is known that in the case of uranium-based fuel elements, isotopes of uranium, neptunium and plutonium constitute the greater part, while those of americium and curium the smaller part of the a-emitting isotopes occurring in the wastes. These also appear in the regeneration wastes of primary coolant purifiers in concentrations depending on their amounts originally present and their solubilities, the latter being determined by the chemical nature of the radionuclides. Several papers have been published on the analysis of radioactive nuclear power plant wastes for transuranium elements. In these articles different individual techniques ,are described for measuring c~-emitting radionuclides used at various nuclear reactors. 1-3 It is quite understandable that different analytical procedures ,are needed in the case of different types of reactors for the selective detection of a-emitters. In this paper a new technique is described in detail, which was developed for the analysis of R-emitting radionuclides in low-activity liquid wastes of VVER-440 type (PWR) reactors. The main feature of the procedure is its suitability for treating solutions saturated with respect to boric acid and also containing several organic and inorganic compounds.