Experience of Mastering, Industrial Exploitation, and Optimization of the Integrated Extraction–Precipitation Technology for Fractionation of Liquid High-Activity Wastes at Mayak Production Association

Abstract

Results are presented of tests, mastering, industrial exploitation, and optimization of an integrated scheme for fractionation of liquid high-activity wastes (HAWs) produced in processing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), which includes the extractive recovery of the Cs–Sr with the system based on chlorinated cobalt dicarbollide in a heavy fluorinated diluent and extraction from the resulting raffinates of a group of rtansplutonium and rare-earth elements by the oxalate precipitation method. This was done at Mayak Production Association in 1996–2003. A total of more than 1600 m3 of HAWs that were stored during a long time in storage facilities and contain more than 54 MCi of β- emitters. About 52 MCi of β- and also about 0.5 MCi of α-nuclides were isolated into concentrates and transferred to vitrification. The scale of activities on integrated fractionation of acid HAWs has no analogs in the world.