Plutonium metal preparation and purification at Los Alamos, 1984

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5702096

Christensen, D C; Williams, J D; McNeese, J A; Fife, K W

Plutonium metal preparation and purification are well established at Los Alamos. Metal is prepared by calcothermic reduction of both PuF/sub 4/ and PuO/sub 2/. Metal is purified by halide slagging, casting, and electrorefining. The product from the production sequence is ultrapure plutonium metal. All of the processes involve high temperature operation and all but casting involve molten salt media. Development efforts are fourfold: (1) recover plutonium values from residues; (2) reduce residue generation through process improvements and changes; (3) recycle of reagents, and (4) optimize and integrate all processes into a close-loop system. Plutonium residues are comprised of oxides, chlorides, colloidal metal suspensions, and impure metal heels. Pyrochemical recovery techniques are under development to address each residue. In addition, we are looking back at each residue generation step and are making process changes to reduce plutonium content in each residue. Reagent salt is the principle media used in pyrochemical processing. The regeneration and recycle of these reagents will both reduce our waste handling and operating expense. The fourth area, process optimization, involves both existing processes and new process developments. A status of efforts in all four of these areas will be summarized.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5702096
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-85-1471; CONF-841235-1; ON: DE85010732
• Resource Relation: Conference: International symposium on lanthanide-actinide separations, Honolulu, HI, USA, 16 Dec 1984
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
PLUTONIUM
CHEMICAL PREPARATION
PURIFICATION
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
RESIDUES
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
ELEMENTS
METALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
SYNTHESIS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
360101* - Metals & Alloys- Preparation & Fabrication