We demonstrated a new process for recovering plutonium and americium from pyrochemical waste. The method is based on chloride solution anion exchange at low acidity, or aridity that eliminates corrosive HC1 fumes. Developmental experiments of the process flow chart concentrated on molten salt extraction (MSE) residues and gave > 95% plutonium and > 907o americium recovery. The recovered plutonium contained < 500 ppm americium and < 2500 ppm magnesium. The process operates by sorting PuCl6= from highchloride low-acid solution. Americium and other metals are washed from the ion exchange column with lN^ HNO3-4.8M NaCl. After elutiin, plutonium is recovered by hydroxide precipitation, and americium is recovered by NaHCO3 precipitation. All filtrates from the process can be discardable as low-level contaminated waste. Production-scale experiments are in progress for MSE residues. Flow charts for actiniae recovery from electrorefining and direct oxide reduction residues are presented and discussed. I.
Fluoride and oxalate are common components of plutonium process solutions. Unfortunately, these anions form highly stable complexes that interfere in many plutonium process operations. Knowledge of the fluoride and oxalate content of process solutions may allow appropriate corrective action to be taken to prevent such interference. On-line spectrophotometry, which is being developed t o monitor process solutions at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility, has the potential t o detect and estimate the concentration of these two anions and other solution constituents when the spectral data are processed using chemometric techniques. Spectra of 126 solutions that contained known concentrations of plutonium, fluoride, oxalate, and nitric acid were acquired as a database for on-line spectrophotometry. These spectra and a discussion of their unique spectral features are presented.
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