Areva and the University of Idaho have signed an agreement to develop technology for recovering uranium from incinerator ash at Areva’s uranium fuel plant in Richland, Washington state. The process also reduces the amount of ash classified as radioactive waste.

Chien Wai, a chemistry professor at the University of Idaho, has developed a process that uses supercritical fluids to dissolve toxic metals. When this process is coupled with a purifying process developed in partnership with Sydney Koegler, an engineer with Areva and former student at the University of Idaho, enriched uranium can be recovered from the ashes of contaminated materials.

A supercritical fluid – in this case carbon dioxide (CO2) – is any substance raised to a temperature and pressure at which it exhibits properties of both a gas and a liquid. When supercritical, the substance can move directly into a solid like a gas, yet dissolve compounds like a liquid. CO2 reaches its supercritical state at a pressure of about 6.9 MPa and a temperature of 31°C. When the fluid’s pressure is returned to normal, it becomes a gas and evaporates, leaving behind only the extracted compounds. Wai commented that supercritical CO2 has been used for decades to remove caffeine from whole coffee beans.

Areva plans to apply the process to recover uranium from 32 tonnes of ash at its Richland nuclear fuel plant. In addition to the recovery of two tonnes of uranium, the radiotoxicity of the post-process ash is reduced, thereby allowing some to be reclassified as other than low-level waste (LLW).

Construction of the ash-uranium recovery plant will begin in 2008 and should be operational in 2009. It will take about one year to process the 32 tonnes of ash at Richland, after which the plant could process ash from other LLW generators in the nuclear energy and nuclear medicine industries.

LLW from a nuclear plant

In other nuclear news, Canada is extending the operating life of the Gentilly 2 nuclear reactor until 2040

FURTHER READING
Other methods of handling low level waste

A large nuclear power plant that generates electricity for a half million people produces approximately 25 tons of spent fuel annually. An equivalent coal plant produces 10 million tons annually of air pollutants, potentially hazardous ash, and other wastes.

Nuclear waste discussed at Berkeley

Brian Wang

Brian Wang is a prolific business-oriented writer of emerging and disruptive technologies. He is known for insightful articles that combine business and technical analysis that catches the attention of the general public and is also useful for those in the industries. He is the sole author and writer of nextbigfuture.com, the top online science blog. He is also involved in angel investing and raising funds for breakthrough technology startup companies.

He gave the recent keynote presentation at Monte Jade event with a talk entitled the Future for You.  He gave an annual update on molecular nanotechnology at Singularity University on nanotechnology, gave a TEDX talk on energy, and advises USC ASTE 527 (advanced space projects program). He has been interviewed for radio, professional organizations. podcasts and corporate events. He was recently interviewed by the radio program Steel on Steel on satellites and high altitude balloons that will track all movement in many parts of the USA.

He fundraises for various high impact technology companies and has worked in computer technology, insurance, healthcare and with corporate finance.

He has substantial familiarity with a broad range of breakthrough technologies like age reversal and antiaging, quantum computers, artificial intelligence, ocean tech,  agtech, nuclear fission, advanced nuclear fission, space propulsion, satellites, imaging, molecular nanotechnology, biotechnology, medicine, blockchain, crypto and many other areas.