Electrochemical treatment of non-compactable materials contaminated with uranium compounds

The decontamination of non-compactable radioactive waste, such as tools and equipment, is intended to aim to remove surface radioactive waste from waste, in order to decrease the volume of these to be conditioned and stored. The application of electrochemical techniques, such as electrocoagulation in the decontamination of waste or non-compactable radioactive materials of stainless steel containing uranium, was studied in the present work and its viability was evaluated technique. Tests were carried out with stainless steel plates in which a contamination was simulated fixed and the best electrocoagulation contaminant removal conditions were determined such as: pH, support electrolyte, cell potential, type of counter electrode material and distance between anode / cathode electrodes. In addition, different configuration arrays for a cell were tested rectangular acrylic and for a circular configuration cell, using plate electrodes flat and cylindrical electrodes. Subsequently, uranyl nitrate was used as a radioactive contaminant, to evaluate the viability of the decontamination process. Removal efficiencies were obtained from 90% uranium in times of 1 hour, pH = 1, using a molar solution of sulfuric acid as Support electrolyte and 2.4V potential. Finally, after testing the different cell arrays electrochemical at the laboratory level, radioactive decontamination of real parts was performed contaminated with uranium using the circular configuration arrangement under the best conditions Experimental previously determined.