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<p>To demonstrate the feasibility of the <sup>22</sup>Na-based radioactive tracer dilution (RTD) method for determining the total salt mass in a 60-kg oxide reduction (OR) system at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for pyroprocessing spent oxide nuclear fuels, a LiCl–<sup>22</sup>NaCl tracer salt was prepared and spiked to the OR vessel, and the resulting salt samples were analyzed by gamma spectroscopy. Due to the high radioactivity (~ 10&#xa0;mCi/g) of the OR salt, primarily from <sup>137</sup>Cs, conventional gamma spectroscopy methods using diluted salt samples were not suitable for analyzing the RTD samples. Since the <sup>22</sup>Na tracer radioactivity was expected to be very low, to generate sufficient counts for calculating the <sup>22</sup>Na radioactivity in tracer-spiked salt, undiluted samples were used for detecting the small amount of <sup>22</sup>Na tracer. Despite the high gamma radioactivity of the OR salt, increasing the detector-sample distance from 20 to 40&#xa0;cm during gamma spectroscopy enabled detection of <sup>22</sup>Na radioactivity as low as 0.12&#xa0;µCi/g. The preparation of LiCl–<sup>22</sup>NaCl tracer salt suitable for spiking into the OR salt was successful, and the mass determined by RTD was consistent with that estimated by salt level measurement. Therefore, the <sup>22</sup>Na-based RTD technique is feasible for determining the total mass of the 60-kg molten salt system for OR, though further development—particularly to reduce measurement uncertainty—is needed.</p>

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Salt mass determination by 22Na-based radioactive tracer dilution of a highly radioactive molten salt system for pyroprocessing spent oxide nuclear fuels

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月30日

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  • Guoping Cao,
  • Magen Coleman,
  • Brian Storms,
  • Shelly Li,
  • Steven Herrmann,
  • Ammon Williams,
  • Lei R. Cao

摘要

To demonstrate the feasibility of the 22Na-based radioactive tracer dilution (RTD) method for determining the total salt mass in a 60-kg oxide reduction (OR) system at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for pyroprocessing spent oxide nuclear fuels, a LiCl–22NaCl tracer salt was prepared and spiked to the OR vessel, and the resulting salt samples were analyzed by gamma spectroscopy. Due to the high radioactivity (~ 10 mCi/g) of the OR salt, primarily from 137Cs, conventional gamma spectroscopy methods using diluted salt samples were not suitable for analyzing the RTD samples. Since the 22Na tracer radioactivity was expected to be very low, to generate sufficient counts for calculating the 22Na radioactivity in tracer-spiked salt, undiluted samples were used for detecting the small amount of 22Na tracer. Despite the high gamma radioactivity of the OR salt, increasing the detector-sample distance from 20 to 40 cm during gamma spectroscopy enabled detection of 22Na radioactivity as low as 0.12 µCi/g. The preparation of LiCl–22NaCl tracer salt suitable for spiking into the OR salt was successful, and the mass determined by RTD was consistent with that estimated by salt level measurement. Therefore, the 22Na-based RTD technique is feasible for determining the total mass of the 60-kg molten salt system for OR, though further development—particularly to reduce measurement uncertainty—is needed.