Cerium-promoted dissolution of PuO/sub 2/ and PuO/sub 2/--UO/sub 2/ in nitric acid

Technical Report · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7287768· OSTI ID:7287768

Horner, D. E.; Crouse, D. J.; Mailen, J. C.

Several experiments were run to determine the feasibility of using cerium as an alternative to fluoride in promoting rapid dissolution of difficultly soluble PuO/sub 2/ in nitric acid. Results show that Ce/sup 4 +/, but not Ce/sup 3 +/, promotes dissolution with a maximum rate in boiling 4M HNO/sub 3/. Other strong oxidants, including ozone, permanganate, and persulfate, were tested but were shown to be ineffective. During dissolution, the Ce/sup 4 +/ is reduced to Ce/sup 3 +/, which must be reoxidized electrolytically or with ozone. Ruthenium also reduces the Ce/sup 4 +/ catalytically, being oxidized to the volatile RuO/sub 4/. Thus successful application to dissolution of irradiated fuel residues would require modification of the equipment or procedures in such a way as to encourage complete volatilization of ruthenium from the dissolver system. However, application of this method to the treatment of plutonium appears promising.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn. (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7287768
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-4716
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
CERIUM
CHALCOGENIDES
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
METALS
NITRIC ACID
NUCLEAR FUELS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
RARE EARTHS
REACTOR MATERIALS
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPENT FUELS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES