Physical and chemical characteristics of solid radioactive waste of uranium production.

To determine the feasibility of processing the uranium-containing wastes in order to uranium recovery, several studies of solid radioactive wastes were carried out. It was found, that calcium sulfate (41-60 %), calcium carbonate (21-39 %), calcium fluoride (10-14 %) and silicon dioxide (1-7 %) were main compounds of the sludge. The mass content of uranium in the sludge was 0.11 wt. %, while uranium containing compounds was not detected by X-ray powder diffraction. The isotopic composition of uranium in the sludge corresponded to the isotopic composition of natural uranium, the specific alpha and beta activity amounted to 42 kBq kg^-1 and 44 kBq kg⁻¹, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]