SEPARATION OF URANIUM AND ZIRCONIUM

Patent · Tue Mar 13 23:00:00 EST 1962

OSTI ID:4807240

An anhydrous process is outlined for separating U from spent reactor fuel elements containing U mixed with, al loyed with, or clad with Zr. The process comprises dissolving the fuel elements in a liquid acid fluoride solvent containing NO/sub 2/, separating the resulting insoluble Zr complex from the solution, evaporating the solution to dryness, reacting the residues with a liquid halogen fluoride to form volatile UF/sub 6/ and fission product fluorides, and separating UF/sub 6/ from the fission product fluorides by fractional distillation. The liquid acid fluoride may be HF or HPO/sub 2/F/sub 2; in the case of HF, the NO/sub 2/ concentration is preferably 7 to 35 mole%. Some of the advantages of the process are that the dissolution is carried out at relatively low temperatures ( approximates 100 deg C), inexpensive materials may be used for the construction of process vessels, and the volume of waste fission products is minimized. (D.L.C.)

• Research Organization: Originating Research Org. not identified
• NSA Number: NSA-16-011808
• OSTI ID: 4807240
• Report Number(s): GB 891436
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACIDS
BURNUP
CANNING
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
COATING
CONCENTRATION
DECONTAMINATION
DISTILLATION
ECONOMICS
EVAPORATION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HALOGENS
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
LIQUIDS
MINERAL ACIDS
MIXING
NITROGEN OXIDES
PHOSPHORIC ACID
PLATING
QUANTITY RATIO
REPROCESSING
RESIDUES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUTIONS
TEMPERATURE
URANIUM
URANIUM ALLOYS
URANIUM HEXAFLUORIDE
VESSELS
VOLATILITY
VOLUME
WASTE PROCESSING
ZIRCONIUM
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS
ZIRCONIUM COMPLEXES