The determination of UO/sub 2/ and UF/sub 4/ in fused fluoride salts

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6437458

Batiste, D J; Lee, D A

The determination of uranium oxide solubilities in fused fluoride salts is important in the electrolytic preparation of uranium metal. This project was initiated to develop a method for the determination of UO/sub 2/ separately from UF/sub 4/ in UF/sub 4/-CaF/sub 2/-LiF fused salts. Previous methods used for the determination of UO/sub 2/ in fused fluoride salts involved inert gas fusions where oxygen was liberated as CO/sub 2/, and hydrofluorination where oxygen was released as H/sub 2/O; but the special equipment used for these procedures was no longer available. These methods assumed that all of the oxygen liberated was due to UO/sub 2/ and does not consider impurities from reagents and other oxygen sources that amount to a bias of approximately 0.3 wt %. This titrimetric method eliminates the bias by selectively extracting the UF/sub 4/ with a Na/sub 2/EDTA-H/sub 3/BO/sub 3/ solution. The remaining uranium oxide residue is treated and titrated gravimetrically to a potentiometric endpoint with NBS standard K/sub 2/Cr/sub 2/O/sub 7/. An aliquot of the Na/sub 2/EDTA-H/sub 3/BO/sub 3/ extract is also titrated gravimetrically to a potentiometric endpoint, this uranium component is determined and calculated as UF/sub 4/. 4 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400; AC05-84OS21400
• OSTI ID: 6437458
• Report Number(s): CONF-890370-1; ON: DE89007849
• Resource Relation: Conference: 16. annual meeting of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, Chicago, IL, USA, 20 Mar 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
URANIUM OXIDES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
URANIUM TETRAFLUORIDE
CALCIUM FLUORIDES
LITHIUM FLUORIDES
REDUCTION
SOLUBILITY
URANIUM OXIDES U3O8
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COHERENT SCATTERING
DIFFRACTION
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM HALIDES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SCATTERING
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM FLUORIDES
050700* - Nuclear Fuels- Fuels Production & Properties
400105 - Separation Procedures