The Precipitation of Uranium Peroxide in the Presence of Fluorides
The large-scale recovery of uranium from materials which also contained great quantities of fluorides did not give a product which had a low enough fluoride content to be treated satisfactorily by the other extraction process. The objective of the investigations carried out in this laboratory was a method of reducing the amount of fluoride which accompanied the uranium. The material from which the uranium was recovered in the industrial process was a slag containing (in addition to uranium) magnesium fluoride, calcium and dolomitic lines, crucible dross, and other waste products from the reaction of magnesium metal and uranium hexafluoride. Most of the fluoride was removed from this mixture by heating the roasted and ground slag with sulfuric acid. The residue was mixed with water and much of the caclium sulfate and fluoride, magnesium fluoride, and hydrated ferric oxide and alumina was precipitated by reducing the acidity. After filtering off the precipitate, ammonium sulfate was added to the solution and uranium peroxide (UO{sub 4} {center_dot} 2H{sub 2}O) was precipitated by addition of hydrogen peroxide. The pH of the solution was maintained between 3.0 and 3.5 during the precipitation by addition of sodium hydroxide. The uranium peroxide, even after washing, contained between 2 and 3% fluoride. The percentage of fluoride could be reduced to 0.5% by precipitating the peroxide from a more acidic solution but this required the use of much larger amounts of hydrogen peroxide.
- Research Organization:
- Sterling Chemistry Laboratory, Yale University
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
- OSTI ID:
- 1026507
- Report Number(s):
- M-5371
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
URANIUM RECOVERY FROM MAGNESIUM FLUORIDE SLAG. CARBONATE LEACHING
BASIC PEROXIDE PRECIPITATION METHOD OF SEPARATING PLUTONIUM FROM CONTAMINANTS
Related Subjects
AMMONIUM SULFATES
CALCIUM
CRUCIBLES
FLUORIDES
HEATING
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
MAGNESIUM
MAGNESIUM FLUORIDES
MIXTURES
OXIDES
PEROXIDES
PH VALUE
PRECIPITATION
RESIDUES
SLAGS
SODIUM HYDROXIDES
SULFATES
SULFURIC ACID
URANIUM
URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE
URANIUM PEROXIDE
WASHING
WASTES