Leaching characteristics of the metal waste form from the electrometallurgical treatment process: Product consistency testing

Argonne National Laboratory has developed an electrometallurgical treatment for spent fuel from the experimental breeder reactor II. A product of this treatment process is a metal waste form that incorporates the stainless steel cladding hulls, zirconium from the fuel and the fission products that are noble to the process, i.e., Tc, Ru, Nb, Pd, Rh, and Ag. The nominal composition of this waste form is stainless steel/15 wt% zirconium/ 1-4 wt% noble metal fission products/1-2 wt% U. Leaching results are presented from crushed sample immersion tests on simulated metal waste form samples. The test results will be presented and their relevance for waste form product consistency testing discussed.