Use of {sup 59}Ni, {sup 99}Tc, and {sup 236}U to monitor the release of radionuclides from objects containing spent nuclear fuel dumped in the Kara Sea

• Main Authors: Mount, M.E., Layton, D.W., Lynn, N.M., Hamilton, T.F.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; NICKEL 59; TECHNETIUM 99; URANIUM 236; SPENT FUELS; ARCTIC OCEAN; SHIP PROPULSION REACTORS; MASS SPECTROSCOPY; RADIOACTIVE WASTES; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Kara Sea; Icebreaker
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/292702; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/292702

Between 1965 and 1981, five objects - six naval reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) from four former Soviet Union submarines and a special containers from the icebreaker Lenin, each of which contained damaged spent nuclear fuel (SNF) - were dumped in a variety of containments, using a number of sealing methods, at four sites in the Kara Sea. All objects were dumped at sites that varied in depth from 12 to 300 m. This paper examines the use of the long-lived radionuclides {sup 59}Ni, {sup 99}Tc, and {sup 236}U encased within these objects to monitor the breakdown of the containments due to corrosion. Included are discussions of the radionuclide inventory and their release rate model, the estimated radionuclide mass in a typical seawater sample, and the potential for radionuclide measurement via Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS).