Review of operating experience at the Los Alamos Plutonium Electrorefining Facility, 1963-1977

Mullins, L.J.; Morgan, A.N.

doi:10.2172/5555056

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Electrorefining was further developed to process several kilogram amounts of impure plutonium at a time. 83,84,[86][87][88] Instead of operating the cell under at constant 2 V, reaction cells were run at constant current. Initial trials showed currents above 6 amps resulted in tantalum contamination in the product due to dissolution of the tantalum stirrer/anode.…”

Section: 3) Electrorefiningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…86 As a result, MgO stirrers were used and a separate anode rod with ceramic sheath was used to pass higher currents through the molten anode material. 82,[86][87][88] Additionally, MgO crucibles were used due to their increased availability, and thus reduced the amount of Al contamination in the product. 8621 During electrorefining as the amount of plutonium in the anode decreases, the concentration of impurities increases and increases the melting point of the anode slag.…”

Section: 3) Electrorefiningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chemical Understanding of Actinide Separations

Servis

McCann

et al. 2021

Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry

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This article provides a broad overview of the separation processes used to isolate actinides and the experimentally and computationally determined chemical characteristics that define those separations. The redox chemistry of the actinides plays a pivotal role in both aqueous and pyrochemical processing separations. The nearoverlapping energies of the 6d and 5f orbitals in the light actinides allows for facile adjustment of actinide oxidation states, which is used in many established separation methods. In contrast, the stable, generally 3+oxidation states of the midand heavy actinides can make them difficult to separate from the similarly lanthanides(III). In aqueous separations, the tendency of the actinides to form anionic and neutral aqueous complexes with a variety of complexants (especially soft donors) is used to achieve high separation factors between chemically similar elements in both solid-liquid separations and liquid-liquid extraction. This selectivity can be further tuned through the use of specialized organic or solid phase ligands. Pyroprocessing separations utilize the unique redox behavior of the actinides to adjust their distribution between a molten salt electrolyte and either a solid electrode or molten metal phase. Atomic-level insights into the mechanisms underlying actinide separation processes, with the ultimate goal of predicting separation behavior, can be provided by electronic structure and statistical mechanicalbased calculation methods.

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Section: 3) Electrorefiningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 3) Electrorefiningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Understanding of Actinide Separations

Servis

McCann

et al. 2021

Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry

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“…In the ER process, liquid plutonium oxidizes from the anode ingot into a molten-salt electrolyte where the Pu(III) ion is transported through the salt to the cathode, where it is reduced back to metal (53,58). The liquid metal drips off the cathode and into the annular space to produce an annular metal casting, or ER ring.…”

Section: Separation and Purification From Irradiated Uraniummentioning

confidence: 99%

Plutonium and Plutonium Compounds

Clark

Hecker

Jarvinen

et al. 2006

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

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The discovery of plutonium, its economic and military importance, sources, production, and nuclear properties are reviewed. The economic aspects of weapons‐ and reactor‐grade plutonium are outlined. The preparation and properties of plutonium metal and its alloys are discussed in detail. A presentation of the physical and chemical properties of atomic plutonium and stable plutonium ions is given. The complexation and hydrolysis properties of these ions are recapitulated. Analytical chemistry, separations technology, and metallurgy (including pyrometallurgical processing) are described. There is a brief treatment of storage and disposal of excess weapons plutonium. The chemistry of several classes of plutonium compounds is described: oxides, halides, oxyhalides, hydrides, carbides, silicides, nitrides, sulfides, and oxalates. The article concludes with a treatment of environmental, health, and safety aspects of plutonium.

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“…added is determine'., by the requirements for americium removal. (For a detailed discussion of t.'.is point, see Ref 1…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Fused salt processing of impure plutonium dioxide to high-purity plutonium metal

Mullins¹,

Christensen²,

Babcock³

1982

Self Cite

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We have developed a process for converting impure plutonium dioxide ("^96% pure) to high-purity plutonium metal (>99.9%). The process consists of reducing the oxide to an impure plutonium metal intermediate with calcium metal in molten calcium chloride. The impure intermediate metal is cast into an anode and electrorefined to produce high-purity plutonium metal. The oxide reduction step is being done now on a O.6-kg scale with the resulting yield being >99.5%. The electrorefining is being done on a 4.0-kg scale with the resulting yield being 80-85%. The purity of the product, which aver¬ ages 99.98%, is essentially insensitive to the purity of the ieed metal. The yield, however, is directly dependent on the chemical composition of the feed. To date, approximately 250 kg of impure oxide has been converted to pure metal by this processing sequence. The availability of impure plutonium dioxide, together with the need for pure plutonium metal, makes this sequence a valu¬ able plutonium processing tool. I. '1 20 Max' 0.50 Hax c C Values ntighc be raised if these limits present a problem. Carbon is removed in the oxide roasting step. The carbon co of an electrorefining feed, however should not exceed 0.3&%.

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Review of operating experience at the Los Alamos Plutonium Electrorefining Facility, 1963-1977

Abstract: under contract W-7405-ENG-36.

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Chemical Understanding of Actinide Separations

Chemical Understanding of Actinide Separations

Plutonium and Plutonium Compounds

Fused salt processing of impure plutonium dioxide to high-purity plutonium metal

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