Uranium Anodic Dissolution under Slightly Alkaline Conditions Progress Report Full-Scale Demonstration with DU Foil

Technical Report · Tue Feb 18 00:00:00 EST 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1121041· OSTI ID:1121041

Gelis, A. ^[1]; Brown, M. A. ^[1]; Wiedmeyer, S. ^[1]; Vandegrift, G. F. ^[1]

---

1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is developing an alternative method for digesting irradiated low enriched uranium (LEU) foil targets to produce ⁹⁹Mo in neutral/alkaline media. This method consists of the electrolytic dissolution of irradiated uranium foil in sodium bicarbonate solution, followed by precipitation of base-insoluble fission and activation products, and uranyl-carbonate species with CaO. The addition of CaO is vital for the effective anion exchange separation of ⁹⁹MoO₄^2- from the fission products, since most of the interfering anions (e.g., CO₃^2-) are removed from the solution, while molybdate remains in solution. An anion exchange is used to retain and to purify the ⁹⁹Mo from the filtrate. The electrochemical dissolver has been designed and fabricated in 304 stainless-steel (SS), and tested for the dissolution of a full-size depleted uranium (DU) target, wrapped in Al foil. Future work will include testing with low-burn-up DU foil at Argonne and later with high-burn-up LEU foils at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE NA Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1121041
• Report Number(s): ANL/CSE-13/35
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS