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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Four million nuclear jobs by 2050: Who will do them?
Industry leaders from around the globe met this month to discuss the talent development that will be necessary for the long-term success of the nuclear industry.
The International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management and Human Resources Development, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, was held in Vienna earlier this month. Discussed there was the agency’s forecast for nuclear capacity to more than double—or hopefully triple—by 2050 and the requirement of more than four million professionals to support the industry.
Herbert Wieczorek, Bernhard Oser
Nuclear Technology | Volume 83 | Number 1 | October 1988 | Pages 49-55
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34174
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At the Eurochemic site, 800 kg of combustible alpha waste containing ∼7 kg of plutonium were treated from March 1983 to July 1985 with the aim of concentrating the plutonium by oxidating the waste and converting it into a soluble form so that the established purification processes could be applied. In a batch process, shredded waste is oxidized with nitric acid in sulfuric acid. The digester content is then kept for several hours at digestion temperature to complete the dissolution of plutonium dioxide. The cold digester content is then filtered and the plutonium-containing filter cake is sent to the plutonium purification system. The off-gases generated are freed from the acids by scrubbing. The process is demonstrated in a plant with a daily throughput of 10 kg of waste. For the oxidation of waste and the dissolution of plutonium dioxide, a ring-type digester made of technical glass is used. The following principal results have been obtained: 1. Complete oxidation of the waste material is achieved within 15 min at a digester acid temperature of 250°C under oxidizing conditions provided by nitric acid. 2. At 250°C and with constant stirring of the digester content, a plutonium oxide to plutonium sulfate conversion rate of up to 99% is obtained within 8 h. 3. The average waste throughput achieved has been 4.1 kg per run (maximum of 10.4 kg). The plutonium decontamination factors were 1010 for the cleaned off-gas and 106 for the liquid secondary waste.