Onderzoek naar de veilige verwerking van NaK met het SimSan-proces

Sodium-potassium alloys (NaK) have different application possibilities like the use as catalyst or as heat-transfer liquid because of their great heat-transfer properties and their low vapour pressure at high temperatures. For these reasons NaK is also used as heat-transfer agent in fast breeder reactors. As a consequence there is contaminated and activated NaK stored as radioactive waste in several places in the world. NaK is very reactive and will in contact with air or water flare up spontaneous with an exothermic reaction. Also the formation of a superoxide layer on top of the product when stored for long term can cause problems when processing. Thereby it is necessary to convert this NaK in a chemical more stable form before definite storage. Inside the SCK•CEN they have successfully developed a method for processing sodium metal. It is the intention to use the same process for the conditioning NaK. The process consists of three parts. Coating on an inert substance, an oxidation and a carbonatation. The goal of my final year project is to show the applicability on NaK of the existing process on lab scale and to optimise the different reaction parameters.