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LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFICOF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA o LOS
LABORATORYALAMOS NEWMEXICO
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PURIFICATION OF pLUTONIUM FUE&S
;fik“.MkRCURY PROCF@NG ‘..-,’
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LEGAL NOTICE
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A. Makes any warranty or representation, expressedor implied, wtth respect to the accuracy, completeness, orusefulness of the information contained in this report, orthat the use of any information, apparatus, method, or pro-cess disclosed in this report may not infringe privatelyowned rights; or
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LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFICOF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS
LAMs-2 518CHEMISTRY( TID-4500, 16th Ed. )
LABORATORYALAMOS NEW MEXICO
REPORT WIUTTEN. November 1960 .
REPORT DISTRIBUTED: May 16, 1961
.
PURIFICATIONOF PLUTONIUMFUELS
BY MERCURY PROCESSING
(Experimental Survey)
by
D. F. Bowersox and J. A, Leary
Contract W-7405-ENG. 36 with the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
All LAMS reports are informal dcmments, usually prepared for a speoial pur-pose and prfmarily prepared for use wttldn the Laboratory rather than forgeneral dletribution. TM report baa net been edited, reviewed, or verifiedfor acouraoy. AU LAMS reports express tie views of the authora aa of thetfme they were written ad do net neceemrily reflect the oplnlone of the LoeAlamos Scientific Laboratory or the ffnal opinion of the authors on the subjeot.
— ._-_-r
.
fu3sTRAcr
The solubilities of selected fission product elements in mercury
indicate that the puril?ication of plutoniun fuels bymercuqy processing .
is chemically feasible. Such a process was e.xperimentdly carried out
on a ten gram plutonium scale with ssmples of two sinmilated fuels. If
rare earthproductswere used ss di.luentsin fuel,mercuryprocessing
resultedin satisfactorypurification.If not, a combinationwith
halideslaggingwas shownto be satisfactory.Yieldsof 80.96~of
totalplutoni.wn were obtained in these smaJJ_-scaJ.e experiments. Iron,
cobalt, cerium, lanthanum, niobium) ruthenium, zirconium} end mo~bdenmn
were sll remuved to satisfactory levels. Plutotiumwas obtained as a
xneixild.ic button by heating a mercury-plutonium solutionto 750°Cfor
two hoursin a vacuum.
AcKN~as
We are tidebtedtoW. J. Maremanfor helpfuldiscussionsand advice
on all phasesof thiswork, ad to the AnalyticalChemistryGroupunder
C. F. Metz for chemical.analyses.
2
TABLEOF CONTENTS
Psge
Abstract...,..... .
Acknowledgements.. . . . .
Introduction.. . . . . . .
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Volubilityof SelectedElements
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in Meroury.
Purificationof PlutoniumFuel Alloys . . .
Processingof
Processingof
plutonium-iron
plutonium-ironrecrystallization.. . . . .
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aJ.loyby recrystallization
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Wocessing of plutonium-cerium-cobalkalloybyrecrystall.izationo... . . . . .. O.....
Materialsof
References.
Construction. . . . . . . . ..6...
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3
I
INTROIXK?ITON
The studyof mer~ as a liquidmetsl solventis
programbeing conductedto obtaindata relativeto the
1spentplutoniumfuels.
one phase of the
Pymprocessingof
2>3 ~Recrystallizationfrommercuryhas previouslybeen proposed
a high temperaturereprocessingmethodfor spent
a processthe fuel is dissolvedin mercuryat an
snd filtered. The rare gas fissionproductsend
productswouldbe separatedin this step. After
and filteredto removesolublefissionproducts,
uranium fuels. In such
elevatedtemperature
insolublefission
the filtrateis cooled
the residueOf urenhm
tetremercuridewouldbe deccnnposedto recoverthe uranium.
A similarprocessfor plutoniumfuelswould a~ear to be feasible
on the basis of the volubilityof plutoniumin mercuryas a functionof
temperature.4
In this studythe solubilitiesof selectedfission
productelementsin mercurywere measuredto furtherestablishsuch
feasibility.Basedon thesesoltiili~ measurements}severalprocesses
for separatingfissionproductelementstromplutoniumwere eveJ.uated
experimentally,
4
SOIJ%KIIJITY
The solubilitiesof
tantslumin mercurywere
OF SELECTEDIIrmrmls IN MERUJ’RY
iron,zirconium,niobium,molybdenumand
detezmdnedby hmersing weighedcoupons,each
approximately0.5 g., into200 ml.
measuringthe couponweight. Thus
the smountof elementdissolved.
of boiling
the weight
mercuryma periodically
losswould correspondto
The solubilitiesof ruthenium,cerium,snd lsnthanumwere determined
individuallyby the methodused for the plutonium-mercuryvolubility
4study. Awei@ed qmtity of the desiredelementwas equilibrated
with 90 ml. of redistilledmercuryin sn inertatmospherefor 24 hours
at 350°C, The mixturewas adjustedto a selectedtemperature,sna
sampleswere
hours. Each
element.5,6
Results
draw througha coarsePyrexfrit at intervslsof 5 to 90
ssmplewas cooled,weighed,and ansdyzedfor the appropriate
obtainedh theseexperimentssre summsxized in Table1.
The solubilitiesof zirconium,iron,niobium,and molybdenumat 25°C
7>8 plutonium,UUltlUUllRIl)were in agreementwith thosereportedat 25°C.
and ceriumsM. a~ar to be temperature-dependentin solubil.ity,snd
thesesolubilitiesare sXL of the samemagnitude. Althoughruthenium
apparentlydissolvedin mercuy at 350° C, it ditt not pass througha
coarsel&rexfrit at either350°Cor 30°C. Therefore,sincethe
“volubility”is consideredhere to be the quantitythat passesthrough
sucha frit in mercury,rutheniumwoulabe by definitioninsoltile.
5
Table1
THE SOllJBILITIESOF SELECTEDI!ImMmTsIN MERCURY
.
Volubility,Temperature,‘c grams solutelitermercuryElement
23? 350 <0.001
Nb 350 <0.001
Mo 350 <0.001
Fe 350 0.002
Ta
I?u
350 c 0.001
1:325
2.6520.085.7
Ru
La
20250
<0.002<0.002
20150250
2.8722.937.0
Ce 20150250
1.3119.874.5
Theseresults
maybe possibleby
indicatedthat goodpurificationof plutoniumfuel
mercuryprocessingprovidedthere are no insurmountable
difficultiesencounteredin dissolutionor in coprecipitation.App~ently
the rare earthsare sufficientlysolubleat 20°C,while the otherelements
are relativelyinsolubleat 350”C.
PURD’ICATIONOF PIUTONIUMllUELALLOYS
Thesesurveyexperimentswere conductedwith plutonium-fissium
allxly. This alloywas prepzmedby ccnneltingzirconium,niobium,
molybdenum,ruthenium,lanthanum, end ceriumin a masterfuel slloy(90
atompercentplutoniwn-10atompercentiron),folluwedby quench-casting
to preventsegregation.9 The masterslloywas representativeof the
LAMPRE-Ifuel. Typicslfissionproductelementswere addedin amounts
that correspondto 10 percentburnupof the plutonium. Only six fission
productelementswere addedbecauseof limitationsin alJx@ng ad
awilysesfor the otherfissionproducts. However,the elementsthat
were added,togetherwith easilyremovablevolatilefissionproducts,
representthe majorityof the impuritiesthatwill.be presentin
irradiatedliquidfuel.
Threeprocessingmethodswere tried. Althoughvolubilitydata
obtainedwith individualelementshad indicatedthat goodpurification
couldbe achievedby simplerecrystallization,experimentswith fissium
alloyshowedthat rareearthelementscoprecipitatedwith plutonium.
Thereforea secondmethodusingha3ideslaggingconibinedwith recrystaU.i-
zationfrommercurywas evaluated. The thirdmethodwas used to process
plutonium-cerium-cobeltslloy,sincethis liqtidmetd.has been propose?.
as a fuelfor futuremoltenplutoniwnreactors.
Processingof Plutonium-IronAlloyby Recrystallization
The flowsheetfor theseexperimentsis sham in Fig. 1. A 10 g.
rod of fissiumalloywas contactedwithmercuryat >25°C for 7 hours in
7
Pu-Fe Alloy Fuel
*
Hg DissolutionStorage P
325°C ● Volatile Fission ProductsL
W“’’’i’Loss)
●I
RecrystallizePuHgx at 25°C
FiltrateSoluble
Filter at 25°C b FissionProducts
+ Pu Lossr
Solid Phase(PuHgx Product)
To Puand Hg (_Recycled
Recovery Hg)
Condense Vacuum DecompositionHg and 4 750°C at 30 ~Recycle Pressure
●Purified Pu
Product
To Reactor
Fig. 1, Flowsheetfor processingrecrystallization.
of plutonium-iron
8
SJ.loyfuelby
a ~ex vessel filled with argon. Afterdissolutionof the plutonium,
the mercurysolutionwas passedthrougha coarsePyrexfilterdisk at
325°Cto removeelementsthatwere not solublein hot mercury. The
filtratewas then cooledto 25°C
intennetdld.icccmpound(probably
coarsefritteddisk. This solid
to recrystallizea plutonitzn+nercwy
Pu&), thenfilteredagainthrougha
phasewas heatedin vacuumto *750°c
in orderto recuverthe metalproductas a coa3escedingot.
Analysesof the fissiumslloyand finalprciluct=e shownin Tdble
2. Calculationsbased on individualsolubilitiesshownin Table1 had
indicatedthat sll impuritiesin the plu%onitnn should basre been below
the limits of detectability, i.e., < 0.01 percent. A comparisonof the
lanthsnumand ceriumimpuritiesactuallypresentin the plutoniumproduct
with predictedvaluesindicatesthat a lage fractionof the ram earth
fissionproductswill coprecipitatewith pltioniumin the recrystsX1.ization
step. ‘lhe.refarea simpledissolutionrecrystallizationprocessis
inadequatefor a high degreeof purificationfrom rare esrths. Plutonium
yieldsvariedfrom 80-967$of the totalPu present. Higheryields shmihl
be attainablein
Element
Pu
Fe
Zr
ml
lb
Ru
La
Ce
lsrgerscd.eprocessing.
Table 2
FURD?ICATION OF P.WKMUM-IRON FISSIUMALU3Y BYREXRYSMLLIZATION FRcM MERCURY
Concentration of’ Element, v/oNssium A.llo~ Final Product
91.3 98,32.37 O.oa0.6? 0.019O.oh N.D.
0,75 0.00+390.97 N.D,
1,59 1.060.74 0.53
, 9
Processingof l?lutonium-Iron Alloy by sls&ging and RecqystsJ.lization
Removalof rare earthelementsfrommoltenplutoniumalloyby
halideslsggingat 6000C has been demonstratedpreviously.10Therefore,
a slaggingstepwas incorporatedintothe dissolutionstep of the flow-
sheetshownin Fig. 1 in cm attemptto convertthe rare earthsti the
mercuxysolutionto insohiblerare earthchlorides. Althougha solid
reactiveslagcouldbe used;previousexperiencehad indicatedthat a
liquidslagphasewas preferdble. The slag selectedwas the 70 wt. per-
centrUbidiumchloride-30wt. percentlithiumchloride(soliduspoint
310°C) as the unreactivesolventsystem.
The reactiveslagcomponent,ferrouschlofide,was added to the slag
phase to a concentration of 110 percentof that calculatedto oxidizeall
rare earthelementspresent. This excessis equivalentto <0.7 w/o of
the plutoniumpresent. Rare earthswere removedfromthe mercmy
solutionaccordingto the reaction
-1- 3FeC~ ~ Z?L&& -1- ye
(in Hg sol’n) (in RbC1-KClsol’n) (in RbC1-KClsol’n) (solid)
The flowsheetof Fig. 1 was furthermodifiedby conductingthe high
temperaturefiltrationat 300”C to freezethe slag and preventit frcm
passingthroughthe filterwith the plutonium-mercurysolution.
Resultsof the coxibinedslagging-recrystallizationmethodsare
shuwnin Table3. The decontaminationfactor(D.F.)is deftied as the
weightof an impurity,per grsm of plutonimn,in the fissiumalloy
10
Element
Pu
Fe
Zr
Mo
Ru
La
Ce
Table3
PURIFICATIONOF PIZJTONIUM-IRONFISSIUMALLOYBYCOMBINEDSIAGGING-RECRYSTAIJJIZATIONPROCESS
(38 g, salt phase,9.3 g. f’issium alloy, 100 ml. IQ)
Concentrationof Element,w/oFissiumAlloy PlutoniumProduct D. l?.
91.3 99.?
2.54 N.D. > 25M
0.77 N.D. > 770
0.89 0.008 120
1,30 N.D. > 1300
2.13 0.11. 21
1.02 0.08 14
dividedby the weightof the impurityper grsm of plutoniumin the
finalproduct. Theseresultsindicatethat adeqpateremovalof fission
product elements, including mz’q esz%hs, can be achieved by this combined
slagging-rec~stalli zation procedure.
Processingof Plutonium-Cerium-CobaltAlloyby Recrystallization
The plutonium-cerivm-cobsltternarysystemhas been proposedfor
liquid-fueledpowerreactors.U. In this systemthe compositionof
cobaltcan be fixedat approximatelyU-25 atcmpercent,whilethe
concentrationof plutoniumcan be variedover a wide rangewithout
seriouslyalteringthe soliduspoint of the system.
IL
Thus ceriumis present in this type of fuel
eX1.eying constituent. For a power reactor fuel,
probably will exceed the plutonium concentration
in gross emountsas an
the ceriumconcentration
(on an atombasis).
Rnploying a slagging stepin the fuel reprocessingcycleprobablywoul.d
be undesirable,owingto the factthat essentiallyall of this cerium
wouldbe extractedintothe slagphase. However,it seemslikelythat
removal.of soluble rare eez%hfissionproductsis not necessq for such
fuels. Becausetheiratomicfractionswill be low in comparisonto the
ceriumalreadypresent,they shouldnot
pointof the moltenfuel. Moreover,in
application,substitutionof rare earth
seriously increase the liquidus
the proposed fast reactor
fission product atcms for
ceriumin the moltenfuelwilJ not seriouslyalterthe neutroneconmqy
or energydistribution.
EinsX1.scaleexperimentswere conductedwith83 a/o plutonium-12a/o
cobslt-5a/o ceriumto determine
dissolutionand filtration.The
of plutoniumwith 3.53 g. cerium
crucible. This bi.ruzry all-oy was
the behaviorof the fuel during
aUoywas preparedly cmelting 100 g.
at 900°Cfor 30 tiutes in a tantalmn
then cooled,3.60 g. cobaltwere sdded,
and the systemheatedto 8000Cfor 15 minutes. A soliduspoint of -4200C
was observedby
1/8 in. andl/4
4 g. segmentof
325”C,followed
decomposition
thermalanalysis. The slloy was remeltedand cast into
in. diameterrodsby injectioninto quartztutes. A
theserodswas then dissolvedin 50 ml. of mercuryat
by filtrationandvacuumdecompositionat 900°C. This
productcontained90-95percentof the plutoniuminitially
12
addedto the dissolver.The chemicslcomposition of the finalproduct
was 96.9percentby wt. plutonium,2.9 percentcerium,and 0.2 percent
cobalt.
Experimentshave not been conductedtodeterminethe decontamination
of fissionproductelementsfromthis fuelbecausethe sclmslfuel
applicationis stillin doubt. However,the informationgainedto date
indicatesthat the simpleflowsheetshownin Fig. 2 wouldprovide
adequatepurification.
MMWKMGS OF CONSTRUCTION
~exwas usedas the containermaterialfor most of the experi-
ments in the temperaturerangeof 25-325”C. Duringvacuumdecomposition,
the mercuries were containedin eithertantalumor magnesiacrucibles
locatedwithina stainlesssteeltube. In aU. experimentssn inert
atmosphere(argonor helium)was used to preventoxidationof the
plutonium. The plutonium-cerium-cobaltsUoy dissolutionaud filtration
experimentswere conductedin Type 304 stainlesssteelequipment,
includingstainlesssteelfilterdisks. A“7 hour corrosiontest ind-
icated no weightlossby 5-g.couponsof Type 304 stainlesssteeland
tantslumtiterhmnersionat 3400Cin boilingmercurycontaining85 g.
plutoniumper liter,0.7 g. ceriumper liter,and 1.4 g. lanthanumper
liter. This correspondsto a corrosionrate of less than 0.010 in. per
yeax for the stainlesssteeland less than 0.005in. per year for
tantalum.
13
Fuel
vHg Dissolution
Storage -b 325°C ~ Volatile Fission Products
4
Filtration Insoluble Fission325°C Products Plus Pu Loss
HgVacuum
Condensation4 Decomposition
850°C, 30 p
Purified Pu-Ce Alloy
+To Reactor
Fig. 2. Flowsheetfor processingplutonhn-cerium-cobaltfuel.
14
REFERENCES
1. Leary,J. A., et sl., P/529USA, SecondU.N. GenevaConference,1959.
2. Dean,o. c.,Reprocessing
3. Morrison,B.
Messing,A. F., end Forsberg,H. C., “Useof MercuryinNUCl~ FUAS,” CF-60-2-3(1960).
H. snd Bknco, R. E., “TheHermexProcessfor MetalDecontamination,”C’F-56-1-151(1956).
4. Bowersox,D. F. andlkary, J. A., ~. Inorg.Nucl. Chem.} ~ 108-IJ.2)(1959)●
——
5. Smith,M. E., Los AlsmosScientificLaboratoryReportLA-1995,(1956).
6. Waterbury,G. R., privatecommum“cation.
7. Lyon,R, N. (cd.),LiquidMetalsHandbook,82-87 (1950)..—
8. Strachan,J. F., and Harris,N, L., ~. Inst.MetsJ-s,85, 17-24,(1956-7).
9. Lesly,J. A., “PyrmetallurgyExperiments on Plutonium-RichReactorFuels,”Los AlsmosScientificLaboratoryRepotiLA-2132,(1957).
10. NulMns, L. J., Lesry,J. A., andMarsman,W. J., Ind. snd~, Chem.,~, =7-230, (1960).
XL. Coffinberry,A. S,, U. S. Pat. 2901345,Plutonium-cerium-cobaltandplutonium-cerium-nickelaJJ.oys.
15