Fused salt processing of impure plutonium dioxide to high-purity plutonium metal

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5200358· OSTI ID:5200358

Mullins, L J; Christensen, D C; Babcock, B R

A process for converting impure plutonium dioxide (approx. 96% pure) to high-purity plutonium metal (>99.9%) was developed. The process consists of reducing the oxide to an impure plutonium metal intermediate with calcium metal in molten calcium chloride. The impure intermediate metal is cast into an anode and electrorefined to produce high-purity plutonium metal. The oxide reduction step is being done now on a 0.6-kg scale with the resulting yield being >99.5%. The electrorefining is being done on a 4.0-kg scale with the resulting yield being 80 to 85%. The purity of the product, which averages 99.98%, is essentially insensitive to the purity of the feed metal. The yield, however, is directly dependent on the chemical composition of the feed. To date, approximately 250 kg of impure oxide has been converted to pure metal by this processing sequence. The availability of impure plutonium dioxide, together with the need for pure plutonium metal, makes this sequence a valuable plutonium processing tool.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5200358
• Report Number(s): LA-9154-MS; ON: DE82009069
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050700 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Fuels Production & Properties
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360101* -- Metals & Alloys-- Preparation & Fabrication
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
CALCIUM
CALCIUM CHLORIDES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DATA
DIAGRAMS
ELECTROLYSIS
ELECTROREFINING
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLOWSHEETS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LYSIS
METALS
MOLTEN SALTS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
PROCESSING
PURIFICATION
REDUCTION
REFINING
SALTS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS