THE SUITABILITY OF SODIUM PEROXIDE FUSION FOR PRODUCTION-SCALE PLUTONIUM PROCESSING OPERATIONS

Conference · Tue Oct 26 04:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:991630

Pierce, R; Edwards, T

Sodium peroxide (Na{sub 2}O{sub 2}) fusion is a method that offers significant benefits to the processing of high-fired plutonium oxide (PuO{sub 2}) materials. Those benefits include reduction in dissolution cycle time, decrease in residual solids, and reduction of the potential for generation of a flammable gas mixture during dissolution. Implementation of Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} fusion may also increase the PuO{sub 2} throughput in the HB-Line dissolving lines. To fuse a material, Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} is mixed with the feed material in a crucible and heated to 600-700 C. For low-fired and high-fired PuO{sub 2}, Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} reacts with PuO{sub 2} to form a compound that readily dissolves in ambient-temperature nitric acid without the use of potassium fluoride. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) demonstrated the feasibility of Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} fusion and subsequent dissolution for the processing of high-fired PuO{sub 2} materials in HB-Line. Testing evaluated critical dissolution characteristics and defined preliminary process parameters. Based on experimental measurements, a dissolution cycle can be complete in less than one hour, compared to the current processing time of 6-10 hours for solution heating and dissolution. Final Pu concentrations of 30-35 g/L were produced without the formation of precipitates in the final solution.

• Research Organization: SRS
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-08SR22470
• OSTI ID: 991630
• Report Number(s): SRNL-STI-2010-00483
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DISSOLUTION
EFFICIENCY
PEROXIDES
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
REPROCESSING
SODIUM COMPOUNDS