IDAHO CHEMICAL PROCESSING PLANT TECHNICAL PROGRESS REPORT FOR JANUARY THROUGH MARCH 1959
Procedures used in decontaminating the continuous dissolution-TBP extraction headend system for minor modifications are described. Reagents used included a proprietary system as well as nitric acid caustic, and complexing materials. Modifications made included replacements of remote head pumps with air lifts, and installation of a titanium tube bundle for waste evaporation Sources of radioactive particles observed in vented gases are discussed. A study of fuel storage basin water treatment indicated that growth of microorganisms was causing filter plugging. In studies of processing aluminum fuels under highly aciddeficient conditions, it was found that uranium-bearing residues remained after dissolution to higher pH levels or to less concentrated products. Practical operating conditions were defined. Stability studies of aluminumzirconium solutions, as occur in the hydrofluoric acid process for zirconium dissolution indicated that little further concentration above presently used levels was possible without potential precipitation, although within certain regions precipitation occurs so slowly that more concentrated solutions can be stored for weeks. A process providing for a 0.75M zirconium feed solution was accordingly devised. Limiting conditions for dissolving zirconium alloys containing 2 to 3% uranium by oxidation with nitric acid or peroxide were determined. In attempts to separate zirconium from hydrofluoric acid solutions by precipitation of barium fluozirconate, 10 to 20% of the uranium was carried on the precipitate. When zirconium was precipitated with ammonia, uranium was completely co-precipitated with a marked reduction in the F/Zr ratio. Zirconium was also precipitated from aluminum-complexed raffinate by destroying; nitrate with formaldehyde. A modification of the ammonium fluoride process for zirconium dissolution in which zirconium would be reprecipitated as barium fluozirconate with low uranium loss, was also developed. Studies of zirconium dissolution in nitric-hydrofluoric acid mixtures indicated that the consumption of hydrofluoric acid decreased as the nitric acid concentration was increased. Zirconium was converted to the volatile tetrachloride, and separated from uranium, by reaction with fused lead chloride. Canned rotor pumps with special bearings and impeilers welded to the shaft have operated on test continuously for nearly a year. Centrifugal pumps showed some erosion when circulating a thin alumina slurry. Automatic control of product removal from an evaporator through control of air to an air lift was successfully demonstrated. Silica gel used to adsorb ruthenium, as wiil be generated in the fluid bed conversion of aluminum nitrate wastes to alumina, adsorbed over 40 grams of rutherium per cubic foot of gel in repeated adsorption-regeneration cycles. Operation of the NaKheated pilot plant calciner on a series of tests to define variable effects was initiated. Rate of particle growth was followed by addition of a manganese salt. Fine particles were electrostatically precipitated from simulated calciner off-gas with high efficiency. The status of construction of the demonstrational calcining facility is described. In further studies of electrolytic removal of stainless steel constituents from nitrate wastes using a mercury pool cathode, the effects of concentration variables were defined. Polarographic studies indicated that the reduction of chromic ion is irreversible. When destroying nitrate present in aluminum process wastes, mercury may also be reduced and separated either as mercurous chloride or metallic mercury. Analytical methods were developed or modified for the determination of boron molybdenum, and tin. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Phillips Petroleum Co. Atomic Energy Div., Idaho Falls, Idaho
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT(10-1)-205
- NSA Number:
- NSA-14-002458
- OSTI ID:
- 4220375
- Report Number(s):
- IDO-14471
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-60
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
CHEMICAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT, APRIL-JUNE 1961
IDAHO CHEMICAL PROCESSING PLANT TECHNICAL PROGRESS REPORT FOR JANUARY THROUGH MARCH 1958
Related Subjects
ADSORPTION
AIR
ALDEHYDES
ALUMINUM OXIDES
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
BARIUM FLUORIDES
BEARINGS
BORON
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CATHODES
CHROMIUM
COLLOIDS
CONTROL
DECONTAMINATION
ELECTROLYSIS
EVAPORATION
FILTERS
FLUORIDES
FUSED SALTS
GASES
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
HYDROGEN PEROXIDES
IONS
LEAD CHLORIDES
MANGANESE
MERCURY
MICROORGANISMS
MOLYBDENUM
NITRATES
NITRIC ACID
OXIDATION
PARTICLES
POLAROGRAPHY
PRECIPITATION
PUMPS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
RADIATION SOURCES
REDUCTION
REMOTE HANDLING
RUTHENIUM
SILICON OXIDES
SLURRIES
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
STABILITY
STAINLESS STEELS
STORAGE
TIN
TITANIUM
TUBES
WASTE SOLUTIONS
WATE