Regeneration and recycle of spent oxide reduction solvent salts used in pyrochemical plutonium recovery operations at Los Alamos

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5942120

Fife, K W; Bowersox, D F; Simpson, J J; Davis, C C; Phillips, B J; McCormick, E D

One method used at Los Alamos for producing plutonium metal is to chemically reduce the oxide with calcium metal in molten CaCl/sub 2/ at 850/sup 0/C. The solvent CaCl/sub 2/ from this reduction step is currently discarded as low-level radioactive waste because it is saturated with the reaction by-product, CaO. We have developed and demonstrated a molten salt technique for rechlorinating the CaO, thereby regenerating the CaCl/sub 2/ and incorporating solvent recycle into the batch PuO/sub 2/ reduction process. We discuss results from salt regeneration and recycle experiments, and present our plans for incorporating the technique into an advanced design for semi-continuous plutonium metal production.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5942120
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-86-273; CONF-860603-4; ON: DE86007387
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM CHLORIDES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CALCIUM OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINATION
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DATA
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HALOGENATION
INFORMATION
MOLTEN SALTS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PYROCHEMICAL REPROCESSING
RECYCLING
REPROCESSING
SALTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES