Impact of a Variety of Reprocessing Options on the Purity, Waste Generation, and Personnel Exposure.

Averill, W. A. ; Boerigter, S. T. ; Kornreich, D. E. ; Rising, T. L.

Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee

关键词: Plutonium;    Radiation doses;    Occupational safety and health;    Reactor operation;    Purity;   

RP-ID  :  PB2001105638

学科分类：工程和技术（综合）

美国|英语

来源: National Technical Reports Library

【 摘 要 】

A study of reprocessing options for recycled plutonium to be cast into metal ingots of specified purity is presented. The options include: nitrate and chloride aqueous processes, molten salt extraction, molten salt electro refining, direct oxide reduction, and multiple-cycle direct oxide reduction. A preliminary examination of a variety of unit operations determined that two viable options exist for purification of plutonium: a combination flow sheet which uses hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes and a flow sheet which uses primarily a hydrometallurgical processes. The data presented are of the impacts on product purity, waste generation, personnel radiation exposure, and plutonium utilization. The simulation used in this study was performed with ProMoS, a software package developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory written in the LISP programming language. The simulation was started with 1000kg of impure plutonium metal and operated until the feed was consumed. ProMoS provided the data upon which the comparisons for product purity, waste generation, personnel exposure and plutonium utilization were made.