Recovery studies for plutonium machining oil coolant

Technical Report · Wed Apr 27 00:00:00 EDT 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7108882· OSTI ID:7108882

Navratil, J. D.; Baldwin, C. E.

Lathe coolant oil, contaminated with plutonium and having a carbon tetrachloride diluent, is generated in plutonium machining areas at Rocky Flats. A research program was initiated to determine the nature of plutonium in this mixture of oil and carbon tetrachloride. Appropriate methods then could be developed to remove the plutonium and to recycle the oil and carbon tetrachloride. Studies showed that the mixtures of spent oil and carbon tetrachloride contained particulate plutonium and plutonium species that are soluble in water or in oil and carbon tetrachloride. The particulate plutonium was removed by filtration; the nonfilterable plutonium was removed by adsorption on various materials. Laboratory-scale tests indicated the lathe-coolant oil mixture could be separated by distilling the carbon tetrachloride to yield recyclable products.

• Research Organization: Utah Univ., Salt Lake City (USA). Dept. of Anthropology
• Sponsoring Organization: US Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-04-3533
• OSTI ID: 7108882
• Report Number(s): RFP-2579; TRN: 77-011729
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PLUTONIUM
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE OILS
DECONTAMINATION
ADSORPTION
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE
COOLANTS
DISTILLATION
FILTRATION
MACHINING
OILS
ACTINIDES
CHLORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
CLEANING
ELEMENTS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
METALS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SORPTION
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing