Validation of the SEPHIS Program for the Modeling of the HM Process

The SEPHIS computer program is currently being used to evaluate the effect of all process variables on the criticality safety of the HM 1st Uranium Cycle process in H Canyon. The objective of its use has three main purposes. (1) To provide a better technical basis for those process variables that do not have any realistic effect on the criticality safety of the process. (2) To qualitatively study those conditions that have been previously recognized to affect the nuclear safety of the process or additional conditions that modeling has indicated may pose a criticality safety issue. (3) To judge the adequacy of existing or future neutron monitors locations in the detection of the initial stages of reflux for specific scenarios.Although SEPHIS generally over-predicts the distribution of uranium to the organic phase, it is a capable simulation tool as long as the user recognizes its biases and takes special care when using the program for scenarios where the prediction bias is non-conservative. The temperature coefficient used by SEPHIS is poor at predicting effect of temperature on uranium extraction for the 7.5 percent TBP used in the HM process. Therefore, SEPHIS should not be used to study temperature related scenarios. However, within normal operating temperatures when other process variables are being studied, it may be used. Care must be is given to understanding the prediction bias and its effect on any conclusion for the particular scenario that is under consideration. Uranium extraction with aluminum nitrate is over-predicted worse than for nitric acid systems. However, the extraction section of the 1A bank has sufficient excess capability that these errors, while relatively large, still allow SEPHIS to be used to develop reasonable qualitative assessments for reflux scenarios. However, high losses to the 1AW stream cannot be modeled by SEPHIS

Purex Processing of Dissolved Sand, Slag, and Crucible Containing High Levels of Boric Acid and Calcium Fluoride

The plutonium solution obtained from the dissolution of SSC in F- Canyon will be high in fluoride. Flowsheet adjustments must be made to increase the plutonium extraction in the solvent extraction cycle to keep Pu losses from being excessive

Recovery of plutonium from solvent wash solutions

A number of potential alternatives to the acid hydrolysis recovery of Pu were investigated. The most promising alternative for short-term use appears to be an anion exchange process that would eliminate the long boiling times and the multiple-pass concentration steps needed with the solvent extraction process because it separates the Pu from the dibutyl phosphate (DBP) while at the same time concentrating the Pu. However, restart of the Primary Recovery Column (PRC) to process this solution would require significant administrative effort. The original boiling recovery by acid hydrolysis followed by solvent extraction is probably the most expedient way to process the Pu-DBP-carbonate solution currently stored in tank 13.5 even with its long processing times and dilute product concentration. Anion exchange of a heat stabilized acidified solution is a more efficient process, but requires restart of the PRC. Extended-boiling acid hydrolysis or anion exchange of a heat stabilized acidified solution provide two well developed alternatives for recovery of the Pu from the tank 13.5 carbonate. Further work defining additional recovery processes is not planned at this time

Acid solution absorption of extruded polyethylene foam

Water and acid absorption tests of samples of a proposed replacement to current polyethylene foam used as fill material on the FB-Line cation columns have been completed. Water and nitric acid solution absorption of up to 4 volume percent was observed over approximately a 4 month period of time. Because of the nuclear safety implications, liquid absorption of a replacement fill material must be low. EthafoaM[trademark] 220 extruded polyethylene, a product available from Dow Chemical Company appears to be a good candidate material for replacement of the existing fill material. Establishment of 5 volume percent solution absorption specification appears to be both reasonable and achievable for a replacement foam, provided it is acceptable to nuclear safety personnel

Mixing characterization in a slab tank

Due to safety requirements, slab tanks are often used to process radioactive materials. The configuration is that of a slit or a tank of rectangular cross section with very low aspect ratio. Due to its nonconventional geometry, very little is known about the slab tank mixing environment. To better understand it, experiments have been performed in a full scale standard configuration equipped with two stirrer shafts, each containing several axial impellers. To characterize the velocity field, mean and RMS turbulent velocities have been measured at several impeller speeds with a two-component Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA). The LDA data have been supplemented with flow visualization, circulation time, and mixing time studies. Since the slab tank is often used as a precipitator, solids suspension studies have also been performed. The results of the various experiments will be presented and will be interpreted to elucidate slab tank dynamics. The implication to mixing efficiency will also be discussed

Heterogeneously hydrated mantle beneath the late Archean Yilgarn Craton

Archean mafic-ultramafic melts, crystallized as layered intrusions in the upper crust and extruded as komatiitic flows, are primary probes of upper mantle chemistry. However, the message from their primary chemical composition can be compromised by different modes of contamination. Contaminants are typically cryptic in terms of their geochemical and isotopic signals but may be related to metasomatised mantle sources, ambient crustal assimilation or subduction-related inputs. In this work we present critical evidence for both dry and wet Archean mantle sources for two juxtaposed layered intrusions in the Australian Yilgarn Craton. The ca. 2813Ma Windimurra and ca. 2800Ma Narndee Igneous Complexes in Western Australia are two adjacent layered intrusions and would be expected to derive via similar mantle sections. A key difference in their chemistry is the presence of crystal-bound water in the Narndee Igneous Complex, represented primarily by abundant hornblende. Such a primary hydrous phase is notably absent in the Windimurra Igneous Complex. New 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages for fresh Narndee hornblende (weighted mean: 2805±14Ma, MSWD=1.8, probability=0.18) agrees with the published U-Pb age of 2800±6Ma for the complex and is consistent with a magmatic origin for this phase. Zircon Hf and whole-rock Hf and Nd isotopes for the Narndee Igneous Complex indicate only minor crustal contamination, in agreement with H and O isotope values in amphibole and O isotope values in rare zircon crystals, plagioclase and pyroxene within both complexes.These findings illustrate a fast temporal transition, in proximal bodies, from anhydrous to hydrous mantle sources with very minor crustal contamination. These large layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions are igneous bodies with a primitive chemical bulk composition that requires large degrees of mantle melting. This has been attributed by many workers to mantle plume activity, yet not without dispute, as subduction-related flux melting may also generate large melt fractions. We conclude that the source of the magmatic water at Narndee is the mantle, which, in conjunction with its absence in the adjacent Windimurra Igneous Complex, argues for a heterogeneous hydration of mantle source regions under the Yilgarn Craton in the Mesoarchean