RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FEED PREPARATION AND SOLVENT EXTRACTION
Increasing emphasis has been placed recently on the application of solvent extraction to the recovery of uranium and plutonium from spent power- reactor fuels. Zircaloy2 jackets were removed from PWR blanket type fuels by dissolution with the Zirflex process, and the UO/sub 2/ cores were dissolved in 10 M HNO/sub 3/. Zirflex treatment of prototype samples irradiated to 2500 Mwd/ ton resulted in satisfactory dissolution rates and losses to the dejacketing solution generally less than 0.2% for uranium and plutonium. Zr-U alloy fuels were dissolved in 6 M NH/sub 4/F and adjusted for solvent extraction by the addition of Al(NO/sub 3/)/sub 3/ and HNO/sub 3/. In an alternative procedure, fluoride was recycled by metathesis and precipitation. Stainlesssteel jackets were removed from Consolidated Edison type fuels by dissolution in 6 M H/sub 2/SO/ sub 4/ (Sulfex process), and the ThC/sub 2/-UO/sub 2/ core was dissolved in l3 M HNO/sub 3/-0.04 M F0.04 M Al. Dejacketing losses in unirradiated samples were about 0.02%. Use of the ORNL Deference Darex flowsheet for APPR processing resulted in solventextraction feed containing 10 ppr chloride. Mechanical equipment was designed to declad SRE fuel, and chop and leach techniques are being developed to treat stainlessand zirconium-clad ceramic fuel. A solvent- extraction flowsheet was developed for Foreign Research Reactor Fuels, (Al-20% enriched U alloy) using a revised tributyl phosphate extraction system for the separation of plutonium from uranium. Feasibility tests were carried out on the coupling of Redox solvent-extraction with Darex and Niflex head-end treatments. New solvents for the reprocessing of power-reactor fuels are being studied. Among these, the amines show an order of magnitude greater radiation stability than does tributyl phosphate. A primary amine was proposed for the recovery of uranium and plutonium from Sulfex decladding wastes. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-15-000272
- OSTI ID:
- 4129919
- Report Number(s):
- CF-58-11-91(Rev.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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DEMONSTRATION OF THE ZIRFLEX AND SULFEX DECLADDING PROCESSES AND A MODIFIED PUREX SOLVENT EXTRACTION PROCESS, USING IRRADIATED ZIRCALOY-2 AND STAINLESS-STEEL-CLAD URANIA SPECIMENS
SULFEX-THOREX AND DAREX-THOREX PROCESSES FOR THE DISSOLUTION OF CONSOLIDATED EDISON POWER REACTOR FUEL: LABORATORY DEVELOPMENT
Related Subjects
ALUMINUM NITRATES
AMINES
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CERAMICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORIDES
ENRICHMENT
FLUORIDES
FUEL CANS
FUELS
JACKETS
LEACHING
NIFLEX PROCESS
NITRIC ACID
PLANNING
PLUTONIUM
PRECIPITATION
PREPARATION
RADIATIONS
REACTORS
RECOVERY
RECYCLING
REPROCESSING
RESEARCH REACTORS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SM-1
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SOLVENTS
SRE
STABILITY
STAINLESS STEELS
SULFEX PROCESS
SULFURIC ACID
URANIUM
URANIUM ALLOYS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
USES
WASTE PROCESSING
ZIRCALOY
ZIRCONIUM
ZIRFLEX PROCESS