Dissolution of spent nuclear fuel in carbonate–peroxide solution

This study shows that spent UO2 fuel can be completely dissolved in a room temperature carbonate–peroxide solution apparently without attacking the metallic Mo–Tc–Ru–Rh–Pd fission product phase. In parallel tests, identical samples of spent nuclear fuel were dissolved in nitric acid and in an ammonium carbonate, hydrogen peroxide solution. The resulting solutions were analyzed for strontium-90, technetium-99, cesium-137, europium-154, plutonium, and americium-241. The results were identical for all analytes except technetium, where the carbonate–peroxide dissolution had only about 25% of the technetium that the nitric acid dissolution had.