Process Equipment Design and Development for Transuranium Processing Plant

Target rods irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor will be chemically processed for the recovery and decontamination of the various actinide elements produced in the reactor. The processing equipment will be located in four of the nine cubicles and seven tank pits of the Transuranium Processing Plant cell bank. Activity and contamination levels in the process equipment necessitate the use of remote or semiremote maintenance techniques. Maintenance and plant modifications are simplified by a remotely operated piping disconnect developed for this purpose. The choice of materials of construction for the process equipment and piping is limited by the hydrochloric acid environment and intense radioactivity of the process solutions. Hastelloy C appears to be acceptable for low temperature waste service, while only tantalum, Zircaloy-2, or glass is suitable for process equipment.