FISSION PRODUCT RUTHENIUM VOLATILITY IN A HIGH TEMPERATURE PROCESS

Technical Report · Tue Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1958

OSTI ID:4305137

May, C E; Newby, B J; Rohde, K L; Withers, B D

A study has been completed of the behavior of fission product rutbenium during the calcimtion of an aluminum nitric--nitric acid raffinate at 400 deg C. Tbe degree of volatility of thc ruthenium as well as the effect of nitratc pretreatment of aqueous feed, dilution of the nitrate content of thc feed, and drastic reduction of the oxidizing power of thc calciner atmosphere on the volatility have been defined. Several types of benchscale calciners were used with aqueous feeds of actual processing plant raffinate or synthetic raffinates traced with ruthenium from tbe plant raffinates. It has been found that, with raffinates of 1.6M aluminum nitrate and 1.0M nitric acid calcined at 400 deg C, about 90% of the ruthenium is volatile. Pretreatment with 0.1 or 1.0M nitrite ion was inadequate to inhibit the very significant volatility of the ruthenium. Similarly dilution of the aqueous feed with water, with the resultant minor reduction in the oxidizing power of the calciner atmosphcre, was also ineffective in inhibiting ruthenium volatility. The presence of an excess of nitric oxide in the calciner atmosphere greatly reduced the volatility of the ruthenium. In the latter case, thc oxygen concentration was reduced to 0.01 mole %. Increasing the calcination temperature from 400 to 550 deg C also reduced the apparent ruthenium volatility. (auth)

• Research Organization: Phillips Petroleum Co. Atomic Energy Div., Idaho Falls, Idaho
• DOE Contract Number: AT(10-1)-205
• NSA Number: NSA-12-015417
• OSTI ID: 4305137
• Report Number(s): IDO-14439
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM NITRATES
CALCINATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CONCENTRATION
FISSION PRODUCTS
GASES
HIGH TEMPERATURE
IONS
MINERAL ACIDS
NITRIC ACID
NITRITES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
NITROUS ACID
OXIDATION
OXYGEN
PYROLYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
REDUCTION
RUTHENIUM
RUTHENIUM COMPOUNDS
TEMPERATURE
TESTING
TRACER TECHNIQUES
VOLATILITY
WATER