The Handling of Plutonium Hexafluoride; MANIPULATION DE L'HEXAFLUORURE DE PLUTONIUM

Technical Report · Sun Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4816738

Berard, P

The problem of plutonium hexafluoride instability is discussed. The influence of various factors on the decomposition of the fluoride was studied; physical aspect of the walls, nature of the metal and lts pretreatment, and influence of the temperature. A means of detecting plutonium-239 in a metallic apparatus by gamma -ray counting was developed; the sensitivity is of the order of half a milligram, but the precision is very low (about 50%). Yields of over 95% were obtained for the transfer of plutonium during the preparation and sublimation of the hexafluorlde. The possibility of using plutonium hexafluoride for the extraction of plutonium from irradiated fuel elements by a dry method was confirmed. (auth)

• Research Organization: France. Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique. Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires, Fontenay-aux-Roses
• NSA Number: NSA-16-025473
• OSTI ID: 4816738
• Report Number(s): CEA-2123
• Country of Publication: France
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BURNUP
CHEMISTRY
DECOMPOSITION
EVAPORATION
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAMMA DETECTION
LEACHING
METALS
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM FLUORIDES
REPROCESSING
SENSITIVITY
SOLIDIFICATION
STABILITY
SUBLIMATION
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE
USES