Overview of reductants utilized in nuclear fuel reprocessing/recycling
- Idaho National Laboratory, 995 University Blvd, Idaho Falls, ID 83402 (United States)
- Idaho National Laboratory, Material and Fuel Complex, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-6150 (United States)
- University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89144 (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Batelle Blvd, Richland, WA 99352 (United States)
The most widely used reductant to partition plutonium from uranium in the Purex process was ferrous sulfamate, other alternates were proposed such as hydrazine-stabilized ferrous nitrate or uranous nitrate, platinum catalyzed hydrogen, and hydrazine, hydroxylamine salts. New candidates to replace hydrazine or hydroxylamine nitrate (HAN) are pursued worldwide. They may improve the performance of the industrial Purex process towards different operations such as de-extraction of plutonium and reduction of the amount of hydrazine which will limit the formation of hydrazoic acid. When looking at future recycling technologies using hydroxamic ligands, neither acetohydroxamic acid (AHA) nor formohydroxamic acid (FHA) seem promising because they hydrolyze to give hydroxylamine and the parent carboxylic acid. Hydroxyethylhydrazine, HOC{sub 2}H{sub 4}N{sub 2}H{sub 3} (HEH) is a promising non-salt-forming reductant of Np and Pu ions because it is selective to neptunium and plutonium ions at room temperature and at relatively low acidity, it could serve as a replacement of HAN or AHA for the development of a novel used nuclear fuel recycling process.
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22257836
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
APPLICATION OF FORMOHYDROXAMIC ACID IN NUCLEAR PROCESSING: SYNTHESIS AND COMPLEXATION WITH TECHNETIUM-99
Testing and economical evaluation of U(IV) in Purex