Title  Synthesis and Properties of Metallic Tc and Tc-Zr Alloys as a Radioactive Storage Waste Form to Stabilize the Tc Waste Stream of the UREX+1 Process	Researchers K. Czerwinski, F. Poineau, Collaborators Gordon Jarvinen and Doris Ford, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Background  In the Advanced Fuel Cycle Research & Development (AFC R&D) activities, the uranium extraction (UREX+1) process is proposed as one of the most promising technique to separate transuranic elements (TRU) from light water reactor spent nuclear fuel in the years to come.  The isotope 99Tc will be separated together with U within the first process steps.  After the separation of U, Tc must be immobilized by their incorporation in a suitable storage and waste form.    A candidate process to immobilize 99Tc is to alloy metallic Tc with excess metallic zirconium.  This material has potential advantages in terms of the future reuse of 99Tc and its potential transmutation.  Providing a Tc storage/waste form strongly promotes the AFC R&D  and the separation of TRU elements using the UREX+1 process.  However, little thermodynamic data in the binary technetium–zirconium metal system exist, and only few data are available on the synthesis of Tc-Zr alloys and on their potential performance under temporary or geological storage conditions.  In this project, systematic investigations on the Tc-Zr binary metal system will be evaluated for the first time.  The synthesis of metallic Tc as well as its alloys with Zr will be evaluated.  In order to provide valuable data to AFC R&D, the thermodynamic equilibrium phases, as well as their performance under repository conditions, will be examined.	Research Objectives and Methods The research objectives of this project are as follows:  · Evaluate anion exchange methods for achieving the separation of Tc from U. · Synthesize metallic Tc from the separated product. · Synthesize and characterize Tc alloys. · Investigate Tc-corrosion and Tc-leaching of binary Tc-Zr phases under a range of conditions.  The following experimental techniques are used in the evaluation of the solutions and solids from the experiments:  ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray Absorption Fine-Structure Spectroscopy (XAFS), and microscopy.   Separation process with two columns.
Students  Chensong Dai G   Lillian Jane Ratliff U Lucas Bang U Siul Ruiz U	Department Mechanical Engineering
Final Report	Annual Report
Proposal 02/28/06	Quarterly Reports