A radioactive chemical called pertechnetate is a bad actor when it’s in nuclear waste tanks. But researchers at PNNL and the University of South Florida have a new lead on how to selectively separate it from the nuclear waste for treatment.
Installing new access holes (up to 6 feet in diameter) could reduce the overall time and cost to retrieve waste from Hanford's underground storage tanks, according to a structural analysis of the tank domes by PNNL and Becht Engineering.
"It's sort of like using infrared goggles to see heat signatures in the dark, except this is underground." PNNL and CHPRC implemented a state-of-the-art approach to monitor the process of remediating residual uranium at Hanford's 300 Area.
Researchers used novel methods to safely create and analyze plutonium samples. The approaches could prove influential in future studies of the radioactive material, benefitting research in legacy, national security and nuclear fuels.
Aluminum oxyhydroxide (boehmite) nanoplatelets align and attach to form neatly ordered stacks, a novel findings that involves both experimental and computational research.
Vitrifying nuclear waste for storage is complicated by aluminum and understanding this behavior is vital. Research suggests that upon radiolysis, the properties of humid aluminum particles do not change substantially but hydrogen is formed.