Purification of 238Pu Oxide using the Pu Oxalate Process

Mew, D A ; Krikorian, O H ; Dodson, K E ; Schmitz, J A

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

关键词: Radiolysis;    Processing;    37 Inorganic, Organic, Physical And Analytical Chemistry;    Oxalates;    Purification;   

DOI  :  10.2172/15005300
RP-ID  :  UCRL-ID-146750
RP-ID  :  W-7405-ENG-48
RP-ID  :  15005300

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The Pu oxalate process is used to remove {sup 234}U from aged {sup 238}Pu-enriched PuO{sub 2} ({sup 234}U grows into the PuO{sub 2} material with time from a-decay of {sup 238}Pu). The Pu oxalate process was first used on a mixture of weapons grade PuO{sub 2} with UO{sub 2} to work out the processing parameters. It was then applied to aged {sup 238}Pu-enriched PuO{sub 2} ({sup 238}PuO{sub 2}). The {sup 234}U content of the {sup 238}PuO{sub 2} was reduced from 13.2 wt% to 0.0254 wt%, and the Pu recovery yield was 78.5%. The process is complex and is complicated by radiolysis problems when working with {sup 238}Pu. Details of the experiments are described.