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1 safe HANDLING ANDSTORAGE OF PLUTONIUMThe following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency:AFGHANISTANALBANIAALGERIAARGENTIN AARMENIAAUSTRALIAAUSTRIABANGLADESHBELARU SBELGIUMBOLIVIABOSNIA ANDHERZEGOVINABRAZILBULGARIACAMBODIACAME ROONCANADACHILECHINACOLOMBIACOSTA RICACOTE D IVOIRECROATIACUBACYPRUSCZECH REPUBLICDEMOCRATIC REPUBLICOF THE CONGODENMARKDOMINICAN REPUBLICECUADOREGYPTEL SALVADORESTONIAETHIOPIAFINLANDFRANCEGABO NGEORGIAGERMANYGHANAGREECEGUATEMALAHAITI HOLY SEEHUNGARYICELANDINDIAINDONESIAIRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAQIRELANDISRAELITALYJAMAICAJAPANJORDAN KAZAKHSTANKENYAKOREA, REPUBLIC OFKUWAITLATVIALEBANONLIBERIALIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYALIECHTENSTEINLITHUANIALUXEMBOU RGMADAGASCARMALAYSIAMALIMALTAMARSHALL ISLANDSMAURITIUSMEXICOMONACOMONGOLIAMORO CCOMYANMARNAMIBIANETHERLANDSNEW ZEALANDNICARAGUANIGERNIGERIANORWAYPAKIST ANPANAMAPARAGUAYPERUPHILIPPINESPOLANDPOR TUGALQATARREPUBLIC OF MOLDOVAROMANIARUSSIAN FEDERATIONSAUDI ARABIASENEGALSIERRA LEONESINGAPORESLOVAKIASLOVENIASOUTH AFRICASPAINSRI LANKASUDANSWEDENSWITZERLANDSYRIAN ARAB REPUBLICTHAILANDTHE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIATUNISIATURKEYUGANDAUKRAINEUNITE D ARAB EMIRATESUNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELANDUNITED REPUBLICOF TANZANIAUNITED STATESOF AMERICAURUGUAYUZBEKISTANVENEZUELAVIET NAMYEMENYUGOSLAVIAZAMBIAZIMBABWEThe Agency s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of theIAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957.

2 TheHeadquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is to accelerate and enlarge thecontribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world . IAEA, 1998 Permission to reproduce or translate the information contained in this publication may beobtained by writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramer Strasse 5, Box 100,A-1400 Vienna, by the IAEA in AustriaSeptember 1998 STI/PUB/1061 safe HANDLING ANDSTORAGE OF PLUTONIUMSAFETY REPORTS SERIES No. 9 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCYVIENNA, 1998 VIC Library Cataloguing in Publication DataSafe HANDLING and STORAGE of PLUTONIUM . Vienna : International AtomicEnergy Energy, ; 24 cm. (Safety reports series, ISSN 1020 6450 ;no. 9)STI/PUB/1061 ISBN 92 0 102998 5 Includes bibliographical PLUTONIUM Safety PLUTONIUM International Atomic Energy 00198 FOREWORDA large increase in the use of PLUTONIUM was anticipated with the developmentof the civil applications of nuclear energy.

3 Significant capital investments were madein facilities to separate PLUTONIUM from spent nuclear fuel. However, with thediscoveries of large quantities of inexpensive uranium ores (which provide analternative to PLUTONIUM as a nuclear fuel) coupled with the slow development ofnuclear electrical energy and with the rapidly escalating cost of developing anddeploying fast breeder reactors (which were expected to be the major users ofplutonium), the utilization of separated PLUTONIUM has not kept pace with its rate ofseparation. As a result, the stockpiles of separated civil PLUTONIUM around the worldtotalled more than 150 t at the end of Safety Report updates IAEA Safety Series No. 39, safe HANDLING ofPlutonium , which was published in 1974. The focus of the previous publication wason PLUTONIUM research and development facilities, which used very limited quantitiesof PLUTONIUM . At that time, the average burnup of fuel was much lower than it is higher burnup, there are higher concentrations of 238Pu,240Pu,241Pu and , large amounts of weapon grade PLUTONIUM (with greater than 90% 239Pu) havebeen declared to be in excess of military requirements, and these materials may alsobe added to the civil PLUTONIUM inventories.

4 This report therefore describes the effectsof this wide variance in isotopic composition on STORAGE and HANDLING effects of stricter standards for the exposure of personnel to radiation whichhave been established since Safety Series No. 39 was published are also publication did not address criticality because it covered only laboratory scalefacilities (facilities which had less than 220 g of PLUTONIUM ). This report, however,describes facilities now in place or needed in the future which have large quantitiesof PLUTONIUM , and thus it addresses criticality issues as well. Further, because of thegrowing need to store PLUTONIUM for long periods of time, this report also coversplutonium STORAGE . Although safeguards and physical security are very importantissues with respect to PLUTONIUM HANDLING and STORAGE , these issues are not covered inthis development and publication of this report is part of an expandedprogramme within the IAEA to identify and deal with problems associated with theaccumulation of stockpiles of separated civil PLUTONIUM .

5 It is the result of a sharing ofdata and experience concerning the HANDLING and STORAGE of PLUTONIUM by thecountries which have the most experience in these areas. The officer responsible forthis report was J. Finucane from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section of theDivision of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste NOTEA lthough great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information containedin this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility forconsequences which may arise from its use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply anyjudgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, oftheir authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated asregistered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it beconstrued as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the.

6 Background .. Objective .. Scope .. Structure ..3 References .. AND FUTURE PLUTONIUMACTIVITIES AND INVENTORIES .. Separation of civil PLUTONIUM from irradiated fuel .. STORAGE of separated civil PLUTONIUM .. Consumption of separated civil PLUTONIUM .. Research and development: Emerging technologies ..9 References .. , PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIESOF PLUTONIUM .. Nuclear properties of PLUTONIUM .. Physical and chemical properties of PLUTONIUM .. Chemical and radiolytic reactions ..22 References .. IN THE ENVIRONMENT .. Sources of environmental PLUTONIUM .. Distribution of PLUTONIUM in the environment .. Behaviour of PLUTONIUM in the environment ..27 References .. TO HUMANS AND THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTSOF PLUTONIUM .. Internal exposure to PLUTONIUM .. Entry of PLUTONIUM by inhalation .. Gastrointestinal absorption of PLUTONIUM .. Penetration of PLUTONIUM through intact skin.

7 Distribution and retention of absorbed PLUTONIUM .. Reducing the dose from internally deposited PLUTONIUM .. External exposure to PLUTONIUM ..42 References .. , CONTROLS AND REGULATORY LIMITS .. Licensing .. Exemption levels .. Occupational dose limits .. Dose limit to the public .. Optimization of protection (ALARA) .. Regulatory guides .. Criticality safety limits ..50 References .. ASPECTS OF DESIGN .. Safety assessment .. Containment .. Ventilation .. Fire safety .. Prevention of explosions .. Criticality safety .. Removal of decay heat .. Prevention of mechanical failures or load drop .. Radiation shielding .. Countermeasures for the loss of electrical power .. Seismic safety .. Aircraft crash hazard .. Minimization of radioactive waste .. Design for decommissioning .. Feedback for safety improvements ..73 References .. SAFETY .. Effective management.

8 Characterization during commissioning .. Operating procedures .. Training .. Control of maintenance .. Control of modifications .. Audit of operations .. Radiation monitoring .. Area monitoring .. Individual monitoring .. Environmental monitoring .. Operational emergency procedures .. Examples of incidents and practical responses ..87 References .. safe HANDLING of PLUTONIUM .. STORAGE of PLUTONIUM ..91 ANNEX OF PLUTONIUM PLANT DESIGN ..93I ..93I glove box design ..93I (finishing) ..98I .. 100I .. 101I principles applied to MOX fabrication .. 103 References .. 109 ANNEX II. RADIOLOGICAL SAFETY DATA FORPLUTONIUM HANDLING .. 110II .. 110II gamma dose rate of PuO2and MOX .. 110II factor for PLUTONIUM gamma radiation .. 113II yields and dose rate from PLUTONIUM .. 113II exposure .. 116II exposure from criticality incidents .. 117 References.

9 119 ANNEX III. CRITICALITY SAFETY PARAMETERS .. 121 III .. 121 III systems .. 121 III (U, Pu) oxide systems .. 124 III margins .. 126 III arrays .. 129 References .. 129 GLOSSARY .. 130 CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW .. 13411. BACKGROUNDIn the early 1970s, demand for electricity was growing at more than 7% peryear, leading to a doubling of demand every ten years. It was anticipated that nuclearpower would supply most of the new electricity generating capacity. After the oilcrisis of 1973, the growth in electricity demand dropped to 3% per year, but the short-age of oil strengthened the option for nuclear capacity in countries dependent on oilimports. The availability of uranium was a major concern at that nuclear power activities were focused on the development and deploy-ment of light water reactors (LWRs) and gas cooled reactors (GCRs) and on thedevelopment of fast reactors, which were considered to be the most efficient systemsfor resource utilization.

10 In fact, the first power reactor was a fast reactor (EBR-1). Theinitial inventory of PLUTONIUM was obtained by reprocessing fuel from the discovery of large uranium deposits, primarily in Canada andAustralia, uranium prices dropped considerably, weakening the justification for fastreactor systems. Further, with the escalation in capital costs associated with enhancedsafety requirements and the reduction in fossil fuel prices, the large scale deploymentof fast reactors has been delayed and is not expected to commence before oxide fuel (MOX) for thermal reactors uses fissile PLUTONIUM in place ofsome 235U. The fuel is fabricated in several plants around the world, most common-ly by blending PLUTONIUM oxide and uranium oxide. The fabrication of MOX is simi-lar to the fabrication of uranium oxide fuel. Although the use of MOX fuel in thermalreactors had been demonstrated for more than 30 years, PLUTONIUM was separated andstockpiled primarily for use in fast reactors.