Evaporator condensate transfers at the Oak Ridge Y-12 plant

Highly enriched uranium recovery operations at the Oak Ridge Y-12 plant require dissolution of various uranium-bearing materials in nitric acid and water to prepare uranyl nitrate solution for subsequent uranium purification process steps. All enriched uranium solution processing is conducted in equipment of favorable geometry. Large quantities of nitric acid and water are used in dissolution steps, and much of the nitric acid is removed in subsequent evaporation steps. By necessity, the large quantities of dilute nitric acid condensate must be stored in large-geometry tanks prior to waste treatment of nitric acid recovery operations. Reliable criticality safety controls are needed at the interface between favorable-geometry uranium process equipment and large-geometry condensate transfer operation at the Oak Ridge Y-12 plant