Fused Salt Electrorefining of Molten Plutonium and Its Alloys
- Univ. of California, Los Alamos, NM (United States). Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Results of an extensive development program that culminated in construction of a 40 kg. per month capacity electrorefining plant are reviewed. High purity plutonium is produced in good yield on the 0.2 to 3.5 kg. scale. Impure plutonium metal, Pu-10 a/o Fe alloy, and Pu-3 a/o Ga alloy have been refined routinely to plutonium that contained less than 100 p.p.m. by wt. of metallic impurities. In addition to serving as a means of preparing high purity plutonium metal, the large scale process is used to recycle plutonium metal scrap economically. The theory of plutonium alloy electrorefining is developed. In particular the behavior of elements that are commonly present in impure plutonium metal, such as uranium, thorium, iron and gallium, is reviewed. The special case of americium-241, which results from the decay of plutonium-241 is considered in detail. The distribution coefficients for americium between the molten salt electrolyte and the refined plutonium are reported. Results are correlated with thermodynamic properties and phase diagrams of plutonium alloy systems. The effects of process variables such as refining temperature, current density, molten salt electrolyte composition, and stirring on the process are discussed. In addition, various ceramics and refractory metals have been evaluated as container materials for molten salts and molten plutonium.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Los Alamos, NM (United States). Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- NSA Number:
- NSA-19-015998
- OSTI ID:
- 4629576
- Report Number(s):
- LA--3118; CONF-571-33
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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