Reclamation of plutonium from pyrochemical processing residues

Technical Report · Tue Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6135525· OSTI ID:6135525

Gray, L W; Gray, J H; Holcomb, H P; Chostner, D F

Savannah River Laboratory (SRL), Savannah River Plant (SRP), and Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) have jointly developed a process to recover plutonium from molten salt extraction residues. These NaCl, KCL, and MgCl/sub 2/ residues, which are generated in the pyrochemical extraction of /sup 241/Am from aged plutonium metal, contain up to 25 wt % dissolved plutonium and up to 2 wt % americium. The overall objective was to develop a process to convert these residues to a pure plutonium metal product and discardable waste. To meet this objective a combination of pyrochemical and aqueous unit operations was used. The first step was to scrub the salt residue with a molten metal (aluminum and magnesium) to form a heterogeneous ''scrub alloy'' containing nominally 25 wt % plutonium. This unit operation, performed at RFP, effectively separated the actinides from the bulk of the chloride salts. After packaging in aluminum cans, the ''scrub alloy'' was then dissolved in a nitric acid - hydrofluoric acid - mercuric nitrate solution at SRP. Residual chloride was separated from the dissolver solution by precipitation with Hg/sub 2/(NO/sub 3/)/sub 2/ followed by centrifuging. Plutonium was then separated from the aluminum, americium and magnesium using the Purex solvent extraction system. The /sup 241/Am was diverted to the waste tank farm, but could be recovered if desired.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Lab., Aiken, SC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-76SR00001
• OSTI ID: 6135525
• Report Number(s): DP-1725; ON: DE87014262
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
ELEMENTS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
METALS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM
PUREX PROCESS
PYROCHEMICAL REPROCESSING
RADIOISOTOPES
RECOVERY
REPROCESSING
RESIDUES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES