Cost of producing U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ from ammonium bicarbonate in situ leach solution by the multiple-compartment ion-exchange system
The Bureau of Mines estimated the cost for a uranium ion-exchange recovery system using five grades of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ leach solution producing 815,570 pounds of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ per year from an ammonium bicarbonate in situ leach solution. The system flowsheet consisted of four unit operations: (1) Multiple-compartment ion-exchange (MCIX) absorption; (2) MCIX elution; (3) precipitation of the uranium as yellow cake, filtering, calcining, and packaging; and (4) waste disposal. The total fixed capital cost of a system treating 2,000 gallons per minute of 0.1-gram-per-liter-U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ leach solution was estimated as $6,888,000. For a basic case of an MCIX system depreciating in 9 years, unit production cost of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ was $3.51 per pound. A decrease in feed solution grade from 0.4 to 0.03 gram per liter increased the production cost exponentially. Shorter depreciating periods significantly increased the production cost particularly for the lower grade feed solutions.
- Research Organization:
- Bureau of Mines, Salt Lake City, UT (USA). Salt Lake City Metallurgy Research Center
- OSTI ID:
- 5981806
- Report Number(s):
- BM-IC-8796
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATES
CHALCOGENIDES
COST
DIAGRAMS
DISSOLUTION
FLOWSHEETS
ION EXCHANGE
LEACHING
MINING
ORES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRODUCTION
RECOVERY
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUTION MINING
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM ORES
URANIUM OXIDES
URANIUM OXIDES U3O8