Chemical Processes for Recovery of High Purity 234U from Aged 238PU
Purified 234U (2.46E5 a) is an important radioisotope for commercial customers, and since the 1980s, the United States has experienced a market demand of 2–6 g per year. Purified 234U is most efficiently recovered as a decay daughter from aged 238Pu (87.7 a). Ever since the last recovery of tens of grams of 234U by Monsanto Co.’s Mound Laboratory in 1980s, the DOE inventory of 234U for US market decreased steadily. In 2016–2018, the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) carried out a campaign to recover 234U from 16 spent Pu–Be neutron sources. A total 66.5 g of high purity 234U of high isotopic abundance (>99.3%) was recovered in two phases of the campaign with selected chemical processes. Recovery of 234U from aged 238Pu commonly involves four major steps: (1) bulk plutonium removal from the matrix, (2) continued separation of plutonium from the matrix, (3) purification of 234U from all other impurities, and (4) conversion of purified 234U into a final product form, 234U3O8. The first three steps are the key to ensuring the purity of the 234U product. Historically, various chemical processes have been applied for uranium processing of these three steps, although on different scales or with different purity requirements. Because of the higher purity requirements specified for this order of 234U product, the selected processing methods used in this campaign relied on a cyclical anion exchange process with MP-1 resins followed by uranium peroxide process to achieve the purified product. Process details will be compared with other options, and advantages and drawbacks will also be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1630515
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2019/1343; TRN: US2106623
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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