PURIFICATION OF PLUTONIUM FUELS BY MERCURY PROCESSING. Experimental Survey

Technical Report · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1960

OSTI ID:4005837

Bowersox, D F; Leary, J A

The solubilities of selected fission-product elements in mercury indicate that the purification of plutonium fuels by mercury processing is chemically feasible. Such a process was carried out on a ten-gram plutonium scale with samples of two simulated fuels. If rare earth products were used as diluents in fuel, mercury processing resulted in satisfactory purification. If not, a combination with halide slagging was shown to be satisfactory. Yields of 80 to 96% of total plutonium were obtained in the experiments. Iron, cobalt, cerium, lanthanum, niobium, ruthenium, zirconium, and molybdenum were removed to satisfactory levels. Plutonium was obtained as a metallic button by heating a mercury--plutonium solution to 750 deg C for two hours in a vacuum. (auth)

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Lab., N. Mex.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• NSA Number: NSA-15-019454
• OSTI ID: 4005837
• Report Number(s): LAMS-2518
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CERIUM
CHEMISTRY
COBALT
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUELS
HALIDES
IMPURITIES
IRON
LANTHANUM
MERCURY
MOLYBDENUM
NIOBIUM
PLUTONIUM
RARE EARTHS
REPROCESSING
RUTHENIUM
SOLUBILITY
USES
ZIRCONIUM