Regeneration and recycle of spent oxide reduction solvent salts used in pyrochemical plutonium recovery operations at Los Alamos

Conference · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5942120

Fife, K W; Bowersox, D F; Simpson, J J; Davis, C C; Phillips, B J; McCormick, E D

One method used at Los Alamos for producing plutonium metal is to chemically reduce the oxide with calcium metal in molten CaCl/sub 2/ at 850/sup 0/C. The solvent CaCl/sub 2/ from this reduction step is currently discarded as low-level radioactive waste because it is saturated with the reaction by-product, CaO. We have developed and demonstrated a molten salt technique for rechlorinating the CaO, thereby regenerating the CaCl/sub 2/ and incorporating solvent recycle into the batch PuO/sub 2/ reduction process. We discuss results from salt regeneration and recycle experiments, and present our plans for incorporating the technique into an advanced design for semi-continuous plutonium metal production.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5942120
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-86-273; CONF-860603-4; ON: DE86007387
• Resource Relation: Conference: 4. European nuclear conference and 9. FORATOM congress (ENC '86) and international nuclear trade fair, Geneva, Switzerland, 1 Jun 1986
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CALCIUM CHLORIDES
RECYCLING
CALCIUM OXIDES
CHLORINATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
MOLTEN SALTS
PYROCHEMICAL REPROCESSING
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DATA
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HALOGENATION
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REPROCESSING
SALTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
050800* - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing