VOLATILITY PROCESSING OF THE ARE FUEL
The highly enriched uranium used in the Aircraft Reactor Experiment is recovered in the Volatility Pilot Plant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory--the first complete reactor charge reprocessing by a nonaqueous technique. The fuel is a combimation of fluoride salts, including; uranium tetrafluoride, with a melting point of 525 deg C. The direct fluorination process used is based on the volatility and absorption characteristics of uranium hexafluoride. A second complete reactor charge is also reprocessed, with 99% of the uranium recovered as uranium hexafluoride and most of the remainder in aqueous solution. Losses in the processing of this second reactor charge are approximately 0.01%. The decontamimation factor is about 10/sub 4/, the highsst that can be demonstrated with the activity levels used. There is no detectable fission-product activity in the uranium hexafluoride product, the total activity being what would be expected from the uranium alone. The equipment is fairly small---for ex ample, the fluorinator capacity is about 50 liters--but 10 kg. of uranium can be processed in each run. During ARE processing, two runs are made per week with two operators and a supervisor on each shift. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-15-013007
- OSTI ID:
- 4068831
- Report Number(s):
- OR-9811-60
- Journal Information:
- Chem. Eng. Progr., Vol. Vol: 56: No. 28; Other Information: OR-9811-60. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-61
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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