Recovery of Uranium from Highly Irradiated Reactor Fuel by a Fused-Salt Fluoride-Volatility Process

Conference · Mon Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1958

OSTI ID:4317497

Cathers, G. I. ^[1]; Carr, W. H. ^[1]; Lindauer, R. B. ^[1]; Milford, R. P. ^[1]; Whatley, M. E. ^[1]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Volatility processing is a promising new nonaqueous method for recovering uranium from heterogeneous reactor fuels containing zirconium and from molten fluoride fuels. it is potentially applicable to other types of reactor fuels not amenable to aqueous dissolution and subsequent solvent extraction processing. Amond the attractive features of the fused salt-fluoride volatility process are the small volume of the fission product waste, which is in solid form; the form of product, UF₆; and virtual elimination of the need for criticality control. the main disadvantages are the high temperatures used and the high equipment corrosion. The paper discusses the processes under development.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-12-014690
• OSTI ID: 4317497
• Report Number(s): A/CONF.15/P/535
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ADSORPTION
ARE Fuel
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECONTAMINATION
EVAPORATION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUORIDES
FLUORINATION
FLUORINE
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
FUSED SALT FUEL
FUSED SALTS
Fluoride Melts
Fuel Dissolution
HIGH TEMPERATURE
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
Heterogeneous Reactor Fuels
Hydrofluorination
IRRADIATION
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
ORNL Volatility Pilot Plant
RADIOCHEMISTRY
RECOVERY
REPROCESSING
RESIDUES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM FLUORIDES
TRAPS
URANIUM
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE
URANIUM TETRAFLUORIDE
VOLATILITY
VOLUME
ZIRCONIUM
Zirconium-Uranium Fuel