CHEMICAL FEASIBILITY OF HOMOGENEOUS NEUTRON POISONS FOR CRITICALITY CONTROL IN FUEL REPROCESSING

Technical Report · Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1958

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4312596· OSTI ID:4312596

Moore, J. G.; Rainey, R. H.

A preliminary examination has demonstrated the apparent chemical feasibility of the nuclear poisons boron, cadmium, and rare earth elements in the proposed fiowsheet for reprocessing Consolidated Edison thorium reactor fuel. These eIements remained in soIution and were not volatilized to a significant extent during the feed adjustmert step. In simulated dissolver solutions containing the poisons, 3% of the boron and less than 1% of the cadmium or rare earths were lost during boildowns. The solvent extraction of uranium with 2.5% TBP in Amsco from acid feed solutions containing sufficient nucIear poison to maintain a suberitical system, gave decontamination factors of 4,000,> 500, and >3000 for boron, cadmium, and rare earths, respectiveIy. Using acid deficient feed solutions, the corresponding factors were 9000,> 1000, and>15,000. Single extraction cycles were made in which the concertrations of boron, rare earths, and cadmium in the uranium product were reduced to within the probable acceptable limits, I.e., 2.5 ppm, <4 ppm, and <17 ppm, respectively. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• Sponsoring Organization: US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-13-002792
• OSTI ID: 4312596
• Report Number(s): CF-58-12-23
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACIDITY
ACIDS
AMSCO
BORON
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CADMIUM
CAPTURE
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
DECONTAMINATION
EFFICIENCY
ENRICHMENT
FUELS
HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS
LOSSES
NEUTRONS
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PERFORMANCE
QUANTITY RATIO
RARE EARTHS
REPROCESSING
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
THORIUM
TRACE AMOUNTS
URANIUM
URANIUM DIOXIDE
VOLATILITY