Click here to make tpub.com your Home Page

Page Title: Chemical Processing cont'd
Back | Up | Next

Click here for thousands of PDF manuals

Google


Web
www.tpub.com

Home

   
Information Categories
.... Administration
Advancement
Aerographer
Automotive
Aviation
Construction
Diving
Draftsman
Engineering
Electronics
Food and Cooking
Logistics
Math
Medical
Music
Nuclear Fundamentals
Photography
Religion
   
   

 



DOE-HDBK-1132-99
Two different types of chemistry are generally employed for plutonium
processing: the aqueous chemical process and pyrochemistry. Aqueous
processes that are common to the plutonium production and chemical analysis
are: dissolution, precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction, and oxidation-reduction
reactions.
The purex process, which has been the typical aqueous process used in
plutonium production, involves the extraction and purification of plutonium with
tributyl phosphate. Other processes are the production of plutonium
tetrafluoride (PuF4) and the reduction of PuF  4 using calcium and iodine. The
purex process should include design features to deal with the use of flam mable
liquids, the potential for radiolysis, the iron catalysis of hydrogen peroxide
decomposition, and the potential generation of a large volume of plutonium-
contaminated wastes.
The design of facilities that employ an aqueous chemical process should
consider the following features:
Systems, structures, and components for aqueous processing should be
resistant to highly corrosive liquid and entrained vapors. Depending on
the process to be used, stainless steel components are acceptable for
nitrate-based systems. Because stainless steel is incompatible with
chlorides, special coatings for gloveboxes (e.g., KynarTM ) should be
considered, along with TeflonTM or derivative polymer piping, valves,
pump bodies, and vessels in systems that employ chloride chemistry.
Selection of in-line process controls should consider materials
compatibility. Automated ion-exchange systems have been used at Los
Alamos with great success.
The sizing of process equipment is necessarily small to accommodate
nuclear criticality requirements. In-process storage of feed solutions is
efficiently handled in slab tanks or hollow cylindrical tanks. Pencil tanks
have also been used; however, the array of such tanks is more
complicated and subject to leaks. Selection of gasket, pump, and valve
I-52


Privacy Statement - Press Release - Copyright Information. - Contact Us

Integrated Publishing, Inc. - A (SDVOSB) Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business