Liquid-Liquid Extraction Equipment

Conference · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2008

OSTI ID:948588

Law, Jack D; Todd, Terry A

Solvent extraction processing has demonstrated the ability to achieve high decontamination factors for uranium and plutonium while operating at high throughputs. Historical application of solvent extraction contacting equipment implies that for the HA cycle (primary separation of uranium and plutonium from fission products) the equipment of choice is pulse columns. This is likely due to relatively short residence times (as compared to mixer-settlers) and the ability of the columns to tolerate solids in the feed. Savannah River successfully operated the F-Canyon with centrifugal contactors in the HA cycle (which have shorter residence times than columns). All three contactors have been successfully deployed in uranium and plutonium purification cycles. Over the past 20 years, there has been significant development of centrifugal contactor designs and they have become very common for research and development applications. New reprocessing plants are being planned in Russia and China and the United States has done preliminary design studies on future reprocessing plants. The choice of contactors for all of these facilities is yet to be determined.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID13727
• OSTI ID: 948588
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-08-15151
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
Centrifugal contactor
DECONTAMINATION
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
EXTRACTION APPARATUSES
EXTRACTION COLUMNS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL CYCLE
Mixer-settler
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
Nuclear Fuel Cycle
PLUTONIUM
PROCESSING
PURIFICATION
REPROCESSING
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SWITCHES
Separations
URANIUM
pulse column