US2982599A - Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values - Google Patents

Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US2982599A
US2982599A US4714248A US2982599A US 2982599 A US2982599 A US 2982599A US 4714248 A US4714248 A US 4714248A US 2982599 A US2982599 A US 2982599A
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
plutonium
fluoride
solution
precipitate
bismuth
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
Inventor
Harrison S Brown
Edward G Bohlmann
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to US4714248 priority Critical patent/US2982599A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US2982599A publication Critical patent/US2982599A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C01G—COMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C01D OR C01F
    • C01G56/00—Compounds of transuranic elements
    • C01G56/004—Compounds of plutonium
    • C01G56/006—Halides
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
    • G21C—NUCLEAR REACTORS
    • G21C19/00—Arrangements for treating, for handling, or for facilitating the handling of, fuel or other materials which are used within the reactor, e.g. within its pressure vessel
    • G21C19/42—Reprocessing of irradiated fuel
    • G21C19/44—Reprocessing of irradiated fuel of irradiated solid fuel
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E30/00—Energy generation of nuclear origin
    • Y02E30/30—Nuclear fission reactors
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
    • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
    • Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies

Definitions

  • plutonium refers to the element of atomic number 94 and to the compounds thereof, unless the context indicates clearly that plutonium is referred to in its metallic state.
  • Natural uranium is composed of three isotopes; namely U U and U the latter being in excess of 99% of the Whole.
  • U When U is subjected to the action of slow or thermal neutrons, a fourth isotope, U is produced having a half-life of twenty-three minutes and undergoing beta decay to Np which in turn decays with a half-life of two and three-tenths days to yield plutonium.
  • 94 3 there are simultaneously produced other elements of lower atomic weight known as'fission fragments. These fission fragments are composed of elements having atomic numbers from about 32 to 64. The elements of this group, as originally produced, are considerably overmassed and undercharged and hence are highly unstable. By emission of beta particles accompanied by gamma radiation, these elements transform themselves into isotopes of these various elements having longer half-lives. The resulting materials are commonly known as fission products.
  • radioactive fission products have half-lives ranging from a fraction of a second to thousands of years. Those having very short half-lives my be substantially eliminated by aging the material for a reasonable period before handling. Those with very long halflives do not have sufficiently intense radiation to endanger personnel protected by moderate shielding. On the other hand, the fission products having half-lives ranging from a few days to a few years have dangerously intense radiations which cannot be eliminated by aging for practical storage periods. These products are chiefly radioactive isotopes of Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Te, I, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, and Pr.
  • plutonium as produced by the process generally set forth above, is contaminated with considerable quantities of uranium and fission products.
  • the plutonium constitutes only a very minor port-ion of the irradiated mass, i.e., less than 1% thereof.
  • the procedure employed to. recover ice that element must be highly efiicient in order to be at all practicable.
  • the plutonium may be separated from the solution directly as a plutonium compound or the plutonium may be converted to the valence state in which it is insoluble with the aforementioned carrier and may be removed from the solution with that carrier.
  • This carrier precipitate may again be dissolved and the plutonium purified further, if considered necessary or desirable, by repeating the above cycle.
  • a carrier precipitate which carries plutonium is usually referred to as a product precipitate, while a carrier precipitate which removes elements other than plutonium, leaving the plutonium in the solution is usually referred to as a by-product precipitate.
  • the precipitation method of separation is usually divided into four steps. The steps are: Extraction, in which the plutonium is separated from the uranium and most of the fission products; decontamination, in which the plutonium is separated from theremaining fission products concentration, in which the ratio of carrier precipitate or containing solution to plutonium is greatly reduced; and isolation, in which the final plutonium compound is precipitated directly from solution.
  • One of the most important plutonium precipitation processes is the bismuth phosphate process.
  • the neutron-irradiated uranium mass after suitable aging, is dissolved in nitric acid to form a uranyl nitrate hexahydrate solution.
  • a bismuth phosphate .precipitate is then formed in and separated from this solution, carrying with it plutonium in a valence state less than 5 and fission products which are phosphate-insoluble, particularly zirconium and niobium.
  • This precipitate is then redissolved in nitric acid, the plutonium converted to the hexavalent state, and a by-product bismuth phosphate precipitate carrier formed in, and separated from, this solution, carrying with it the phosphateinsoluble fission products.
  • the plutonium contained in the supernatant solution is then reduced to the tetravalent state and carried from the solution with a bismuth phosphate carrier precipitate.
  • This precipitate is then dissolved in nitric acid, the plutonium oxidized to the hexavalent state, and a bismuth phosphate by-product carrier precipitate separated from the solution.
  • the plutonium is reduced to the tetravalent state and separated from the solution with a lanthanum fluoride carrier.
  • This carrier of lanthanum fluoride is metathesized with an alkali metal carbonate or hydroxide, the resulting mixed lanthanum and plutonium hydroxides dissolved, and the plutonium precipitated directly from the solution without a carrier.
  • the lower plutonium fluoride is converted to p the higher volatile fluoride (probablythe pentaor hexa- It requires a vast amount fluoride), volatilized andthuseflectively separated from the less volatile impurities in the mass, particularly radioactive zirconium the plutonium fluoride is condensed at below 290 C.
  • the bismuth. fluoride residue is dis- :tilled off at about the same temperature as the plutonium fluoride and so other procedures must be used in separating the plutonium and bismuth fluorides obtained by this process.
  • the hydrogen fluoride and fluorine used in this process should be free from oxygen and water vaporin order to avoidthe complications caused by oxyfluoride fission products and other impurities normallyassociated I therewith, in'a small number of operations.
  • this invention comprises the hydrofluorination
  • the carrier mass is then treated with anhydrous fluorine at elevated temperatures, whereby the plutonium is oxidized and volatilized as itshigherfluorides and thus separated from the less volatile constituents of the mass.
  • -neutron-irradiateduranium is aged for from, I sixty to ninety days, thereby substantially converting the I neptunium present to plutonium'and permitting the most active fissionproducts. to decay to more stable isotopes.
  • the uranium mass is then dissolved in a suitable acid, for example, nitric acid.
  • the uranium is normally present. in such solution as the uranyl ion and the plutonium as the tetravalent ion.
  • the solution may be treated with a reducing agent, such as formic acid or sodium nitrite in the presence of sulfuric acid, whereby the dissolved plutonium is converted substantially completely to the tetravalent state.
  • a bismuth phosphate precipitate is then formed in the uranyl nitrate hexahydrate solution and separated therefrom. This bismuth phosphate precipitate carries with it the plutonium present and the fission products which are phosphate-insoluble. The uranyl ion and a substantial portion of the fission products are phosphate-soluble and so remain in the solution after the separation.
  • the uranium is greater than 99% of the total mass, this results in a great reduction in the amount of foreign products which contaminate the plutonium.
  • the fission activity is also reduced by this step by about 87%.
  • the 13% of fission product activity carried with the bismuth phosphate is attributed largely to zirconium and niobium isotopes.
  • the bismuth phosphate plutonium carrier precipitate thus obtained is dried and thereafter placed in a suitable fiuorination reactor.
  • the dried precipitate is then subjected at elevated temperatures, for example at a range of 500-600 C., to the action of hydrogen fluoride, preferably in the anhydrous state, whereupon the niobium present is converted to the volatile niobium fluoride and readily separated from the remainder of the solid mass. Any tracesof other fission products, the fluorides of which have high volatility, may also be separated at this point. These may include As, Se, Br, Sb, Te, and I.
  • the radioactive inert gases, Kr and Xe will also be completelyremovedby this step. Plutonium present in the mass will be substantially conformation.
  • Anhydrous fluorine is next introduced at a rate of about 0.3 liter perhour at a temperature of 525 C. under which conditions the plutonium tetrafluoride is transformed to a volatile fluoride and is collected in a suitable-receiving vessel at a temperature below 275 C.
  • the bismuth fluoride formed by this fluorination step accompanies the plutonium and is collected with it.
  • the remaining fission products whichh ave fluorides less volatile than the higher plutonium fluorides, are left as a residue inthe reaction chamber.
  • the plutonium recovered in this manner represents approximately of that originally present in the uranyl nitrate hexahydrate solution.
  • a process of producing a mixture of bismuth and plu- The solid residue thus obtonium fluorides free from fission products from a hismuth phosphate carrier precipitate containing plutanium Values in a valence state of less than +5 and fission product values, comprising drying said precipitate; subjecting said precipitate to the action of hydrogen fluoride at a temperature of between 500 and 600 C.
  • the plutonium is converted to plutonium tetrafluoride and the fission products to the fluorides some of which volatilize away from a residue containing said bismuth phosphate, plutonium tetrafluoride and nonvolatile fission product fluorides; contacting the residue with anhydrous fluorine at a temperature of between 400 and 500 C.

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • High Energy & Nuclear Physics (AREA)
  • Inorganic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Inorganic Compounds Of Heavy Metals (AREA)

Description

- United States Patent 7 PRODUCTION OF PLUTONIUM FLUORIDE FROM 'BISMUTH PHOSPHATE PRECIPITATE CONTAIN- ING PLUTONIUM VALUES No Drawing. Filed Aug. 31, 1948, Ser. No. 47,142
1 Claim. c1. 23-145 This invention is concerned with an improved method of separating plutonium from contaminating elements normally associated with plutonium in neutron-irradiated uranium.
The Word plutonium, as hereinafter used in the specification and claims refers to the element of atomic number 94 and to the compounds thereof, unless the context indicates clearly that plutonium is referred to in its metallic state.
Natural uranium is composed of three isotopes; namely U U and U the latter being in excess of 99% of the Whole. When U is subjected to the action of slow or thermal neutrons, a fourth isotope, U is produced having a half-life of twenty-three minutes and undergoing beta decay to Np which in turn decays with a half-life of two and three-tenths days to yield plutonium. In addition to the formation of 94 3 there are simultaneously produced other elements of lower atomic weight known as'fission fragments. These fission fragments are composed of elements having atomic numbers from about 32 to 64. The elements of this group, as originally produced, are considerably overmassed and undercharged and hence are highly unstable. By emission of beta particles accompanied by gamma radiation, these elements transform themselves into isotopes of these various elements having longer half-lives. The resulting materials are commonly known as fission products.
Various radioactive fission products have half-lives ranging from a fraction of a second to thousands of years. Those having very short half-lives my be substantially eliminated by aging the material for a reasonable period before handling. Those with very long halflives do not have sufficiently intense radiation to endanger personnel protected by moderate shielding. On the other hand, the fission products having half-lives ranging from a few days to a few years have dangerously intense radiations which cannot be eliminated by aging for practical storage periods. These products are chiefly radioactive isotopes of Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Te, I, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, and Pr.
It may be readily seen that plutonium, as produced by the process generally set forth above, is contaminated with considerable quantities of uranium and fission products. In fact, the plutonium constitutes only a very minor port-ion of the irradiated mass, i.e., less than 1% thereof. In view of such a low concentration of plutonium inthe irradiated metal and the highly radioactive character of the fission products present, it becomes apparent that the procedure employed to. recover ice that element must be highly efiicient in order to be at all practicable.
There have been devised a number of procedures for the removal and concentration of plutonium from extreniely dilute solutions thereof. In general, such methods involve the formation in said dilute solutions of various insoluble compounds capable of carrying plutonium in one of its valence states. The carrier precipitate and plutonium thus obtained are then dissolved and the plutonium converted to another valence state, in which state it is soluble in the presence of said carrier. The carrier is then re-precipitated from the new solution, thus removing the fission products present in this solution, but leaving the soluble plutonium in solution. Thereafter, the plutonium may be separated from the solution directly as a plutonium compound or the plutonium may be converted to the valence state in which it is insoluble with the aforementioned carrier and may be removed from the solution with that carrier. This carrier precipitate may again be dissolved and the plutonium purified further, if considered necessary or desirable, by repeating the above cycle. A carrier precipitate which carries plutonium is usually referred to as a product precipitate, while a carrier precipitate which removes elements other than plutonium, leaving the plutonium in the solution is usually referred to as a by-product precipitate.
The precipitation method of separation is usually divided into four steps. The steps are: Extraction, in which the plutonium is separated from the uranium and most of the fission products; decontamination, in which the plutonium is separated from theremaining fission products concentration, in which the ratio of carrier precipitate or containing solution to plutonium is greatly reduced; and isolation, in which the final plutonium compound is precipitated directly from solution.
One of the most important plutonium precipitation processes is the bismuth phosphate process. In this process the neutron-irradiated uranium mass, after suitable aging, is dissolved in nitric acid to form a uranyl nitrate hexahydrate solution. A bismuth phosphate .precipitate is then formed in and separated from this solution, carrying with it plutonium in a valence state less than 5 and fission products which are phosphate-insoluble, particularly zirconium and niobium. This precipitate is then redissolved in nitric acid, the plutonium converted to the hexavalent state, and a by-product bismuth phosphate precipitate carrier formed in, and separated from, this solution, carrying with it the phosphateinsoluble fission products. The plutonium contained in the supernatant solution is then reduced to the tetravalent state and carried from the solution with a bismuth phosphate carrier precipitate. This precipitate is then dissolved in nitric acid, the plutonium oxidized to the hexavalent state, and a bismuth phosphate by-product carrier precipitate separated from the solution. Following this, the plutonium is reduced to the tetravalent state and separated from the solution with a lanthanum fluoride carrier. This carrier of lanthanum fluoride is metathesized with an alkali metal carbonate or hydroxide, the resulting mixed lanthanum and plutonium hydroxides dissolved, and the plutonium precipitated directly from the solution without a carrier.
While this type of plutonium separation process is highplutonium in a pure state.
dispose of safely.
ly efiicient in the separation 'of'plutoniumfrom contaminants normally associated with plutonium in neutronirradiated uranium, particularly the radioactive fission products, there are certain disadvantages and inconveniences inthe use of this process. The PIOCBdIJl'B'lS obviously cumbersome and time consuming, sinceitrequires a number ofprecipitation steps in order to obtain the of reagents and the process leavesa large quantity of radioactive and waste lay-products, which are diflicult to process forseparating plutonium from contaminants with a lesser number of steps than the precipitation process would have great utility.
It is an object of this invention to provide a convenient and efficient method of recovering plutonium from impuritiesassociated therewith in a neutron-irradiated uranium mass.
It is a further object of our invention to provlde a method 'that'will effectively separate plutonium from It will be readily apparent that any,
verted to the tetravalent plutonium fluoride, which however is not volatile below 600 C. The mass is then treated with fluorine at temperatures of about 290 C.
or above and preferably betweenabout 400-500 C.,
whereupon the lower plutonium fluoride is converted to p the higher volatile fluoride (probablythe pentaor hexa- It requires a vast amount fluoride), volatilized andthuseflectively separated from the less volatile impurities in the mass, particularly radioactive zirconium the plutonium fluoride is condensed at below 290 C. The bismuth. fluoride residue is dis- :tilled off at about the same temperature as the plutonium fluoride and so other procedures must be used in separating the plutonium and bismuth fluorides obtained by this process. The hydrogen fluoride and fluorine used in this process should be free from oxygen and water vaporin order to avoidthe complications caused by oxyfluoride fission products and other impurities normallyassociated I therewith, in'a small number of operations.
Additional objects of our invention will be apparent as the present description proceeds,
Broadly, this invention comprises the hydrofluorination The carrier mass is then treated with anhydrous fluorine at elevated temperatures, whereby the plutonium is oxidized and volatilized as itshigherfluorides and thus separated from the less volatile constituents of the mass.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of our invention,-neutron-irradiateduranium is aged for from, I sixty to ninety days, thereby substantially converting the I neptunium present to plutonium'and permitting the most active fissionproducts. to decay to more stable isotopes. The uranium mass is then dissolved in a suitable acid, for example, nitric acid. The uranium is normally present. in such solution as the uranyl ion and the plutonium as the tetravalent ion. However, to insure that the plutonium is present in a valence state less than +5, the solution may be treated with a reducing agent, such as formic acid or sodium nitrite in the presence of sulfuric acid, whereby the dissolved plutonium is converted substantially completely to the tetravalent state. A bismuth phosphate precipitate is then formed in the uranyl nitrate hexahydrate solution and separated therefrom. This bismuth phosphate precipitate carries with it the plutonium present and the fission products which are phosphate-insoluble. The uranyl ion and a substantial portion of the fission products are phosphate-soluble and so remain in the solution after the separation. Since the uranium is greater than 99% of the total mass, this results in a great reduction in the amount of foreign products which contaminate the plutonium. The fission activity is also reduced by this step by about 87%. The 13% of fission product activity carried with the bismuth phosphate is attributed largely to zirconium and niobium isotopes. The bismuth phosphate plutonium carrier precipitate thus obtained is dried and thereafter placed in a suitable fiuorination reactor.
The dried precipitate is then subjected at elevated temperatures, for example at a range of 500-600 C., to the action of hydrogen fluoride, preferably in the anhydrous state, whereupon the niobium present is converted to the volatile niobium fluoride and readily separated from the remainder of the solid mass. Any tracesof other fission products, the fluorides of which have high volatility, may also be separated at this point. These may include As, Se, Br, Sb, Te, and I. The radioactive inert gases, Kr and Xe, will also be completelyremovedby this step. Plutonium present in the mass will be substantially conformation.
, Our invention may be further illustrated by the following specificexample. p p p Example To 25 ml. ofa nitric acid solution of neutron-irradiated uranium,which haspreviouslybeen treated with sodium nitrite in the presence of H 50 to insure that the plu- 'tonium present is in an oxidation state of less than +5,
is. added 1 g. of bismuthnitrate and the solution made Theresulting mixture is agitated for 10 minutes at 75 C. and bismuth phosphateplutonium carrierprecipitatethus. formed is separated from the solution by centrifugation. tained. which contains approximately 5.0 mg. of plutonium together with fission products is next placed in a drying oven at a temperature of about 100 C. and allowed to Thereafter the remain until substantially anhydrous. dry bismuth'phosphate plutonium carrier precipitate is placed ina nickel tube fluorination reactor of conven a period of two hours at 500 C. Under these conditions the plutonium present is'converted to plutonium tetrafluoride which, however, is not volatile below 600 C. and'thus remains with the mass. Niobium and other volatile impurities, however, are volatilized by this step. Anhydrous fluorine is next introduced at a rate of about 0.3 liter perhour at a temperature of 525 C. under which conditions the plutonium tetrafluoride is transformed to a volatile fluoride and is collected in a suitable-receiving vessel at a temperature below 275 C. The bismuth fluoride formed by this fluorination step accompanies the plutonium and is collected with it. The remaining fission products whichh ave fluorides less volatile than the higher plutonium fluorides, are left as a residue inthe reaction chamber. The plutonium recovered in this manner represents approximately of that originally present in the uranyl nitrate hexahydrate solution.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the method of recovering plutonium, as generally set forth above, provides a simple and practical procedure for the separation of plutonium from radioactive fission products. ilt will also be noted that the radioactive fission products are recovered in a concentrated and easily handled form.
While this invention has been illustrated by certain applications, it is not desired to be specifically limited thereto, since it is manifest to those skilled in the art to which the present invention is directed, that it is susceptible to numerous alterations and modifications without departing from the scope thereof. While it is illustrated as a step in a continuous process for the separation of plutonium from neutron-irradiated uranium, the process may also be suitably used for the separation of plutonium from any contaminant which forms a fluoride having a boiling point diiferent than that of a higher fluoride of plutonium.
What is claimed is:
A process of producing a mixture of bismuth and plu- The solid residue thus obtonium fluorides free from fission products from a hismuth phosphate carrier precipitate containing plutanium Values in a valence state of less than +5 and fission product values, comprising drying said precipitate; subjecting said precipitate to the action of hydrogen fluoride at a temperature of between 500 and 600 C. whereby the plutonium is converted to plutonium tetrafluoride and the fission products to the fluorides some of which volatilize away from a residue containing said bismuth phosphate, plutonium tetrafluoride and nonvolatile fission product fluorides; contacting the residue with anhydrous fluorine at a temperature of between 400 and 500 C.
ly nonvolatile fission product fluorides; and condensing said mixture of plutonium fluoride and bismuth fluoride 5 by cooling to below 290 C.
References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Werner et a1. Jan. 1, 1957 2,815,265 Werner et a1. Dec. 3, 1957
US4714248 1948-08-31 1948-08-31 Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values Expired - Lifetime US2982599A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US4714248 US2982599A (en) 1948-08-31 1948-08-31 Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US4714248 US2982599A (en) 1948-08-31 1948-08-31 Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US2982599A true US2982599A (en) 1961-05-02

Family

ID=21947290

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US4714248 Expired - Lifetime US2982599A (en) 1948-08-31 1948-08-31 Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values

Country Status (1)

Country Link
US (1) US2982599A (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN104961117A (en) * 2015-06-29 2015-10-07 陕西科技大学 A kind of preparation method of fusiform rod-shaped hexagonal phase BiPO4 powder

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2776185A (en) * 1945-04-12 1957-01-01 Louis B Werner Method of concentrating fissionable material
US2815265A (en) * 1945-06-11 1957-12-03 Louis B Werner Metal recovery process

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2776185A (en) * 1945-04-12 1957-01-01 Louis B Werner Method of concentrating fissionable material
US2815265A (en) * 1945-06-11 1957-12-03 Louis B Werner Metal recovery process

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN104961117A (en) * 2015-06-29 2015-10-07 陕西科技大学 A kind of preparation method of fusiform rod-shaped hexagonal phase BiPO4 powder

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US3374068A (en) Irradiated fuel reprocessing
Thompson et al. Chemical properties of Berkelium
EP0216473A1 (en) Extraction of cesium and strontium from nuclear waste
US3294493A (en) Method of separating uranium and plutonium
US3013859A (en) Separation of scandium values from iron values by solvent extraction
US2776185A (en) Method of concentrating fissionable material
US3154379A (en) Plutonium separation from uranium and lanthanides by precipitation from molten chloride solutions
US2768871A (en) Process using carbonate precipitation
US3808320A (en) Method for reprocessing radioactive materials
US2833617A (en) Fluorine process for separation of materials
US2785047A (en) Method of separating plutonium from contaminants
US2982599A (en) Production of plutonium fluoride from bismuth phosphate precipitate containing plutonium values
US2882124A (en) Solvent extraction process for plutonium
US3383183A (en) Processing of metal fluorides including uranium hexafluoride with anhydrous hydrogenfluoride
US3353929A (en) Process for the recovery of uranium from uranium-containing nuclear fuels and the like
US2894827A (en) Uranium separation process
US3046088A (en) Protactinium extraction
US2767044A (en) Plutonium recovery process
JP2551683B2 (en) Method for separating uranium and plutonium from uranium-plutonium mixed solution
US3288568A (en) Direct dissolution of water-insoluble uranium compounds by contact with neutral organic solvents pretreated with nitric acid
US2815265A (en) Metal recovery process
US2823978A (en) Precipitation method of separating plutonium from contaminating elements
US3000697A (en) Transuranic element, composition thereof, and methods for producing, separating and purifying same
US3825650A (en) Decontaminating uranium by reaction with cif3 and hf and volatizing the uf6 product
US2819143A (en) Plutonium separation method