Outline of EU Processing • Salvage Operations – Recovering uranium from salvage and by- products • Uranium Purification – Separating uranium from impurities – Producing pure uranium compounds • Uranium Metal Production – Converting uranium compounds to pure metal • Machining
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Outline of EU Processing Salvage Operations – Recovering uranium from salvage and by-products Uranium Purification – Separating uranium from impurities.
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Outline of EU Processing
• Salvage Operations– Recovering uranium from salvage and by-products
• Uranium Purification– Separating uranium from impurities– Producing pure uranium compounds
• Uranium Metal Production– Converting uranium compounds to pure metal
• Machining
Why Discuss EU Processing?
• Understanding the process is key to performing an adequate NCS analysis!– A lack of understanding might lead to excessive
conservatism - complicated controls– Might lead to a failure to evaluate credible
conditions – incomplete controls
Sources
• Enriched Uranium Processing, Patton, Googin, and Griffith, Pergamon Press Inc. (1963).
• Nuclear Chemical Engineering, Benedict, Pigford, and Levi, McGraw-Hill Inc. (1981)
Salvage Operations - Overview
• Concentration of Combustibles by Ignition– Graphite, absorbent paper, PPE (gloves, booties,
• Muffle Furnace– Single retort (closed vessel with outlet), typically
electric – Combustible batch in a pan– Furnace is supplied air or O2
– Produces a stable uranium-laden ash– Exhaust gas contains entrained uranium and is
filtered
Muffle Furnace
Salvage Operations - Furnaces
• Destructive Distillation– Retort and distillate tank– Combustible batch in a pan– First cycle is distillation– Second cycle is oxidation– Produces a stable uranium laden ash and organic
distillate– Distillate and exhaust gas should not contain much
entrained uranium
Destructive Distillation
Leaching
• Acid washing insoluble materials laden with uranium
• Continuous or batch• Geometry/volume control preferable:– Volume (beakers, flasks, etc.)– Geometry (cylindrical tanks, slab tanks, trays)
• Uranium solution is the product• Leached solids discarded (after confirmation)
Uranium Purification Summary
• Separating uranium from impurities– Solvent extraction– Evaporation
• Production of pure uranium compounds– Molten uranyl nitrate– Denitration– Fluid bed reactors
Solvent Extraction
• Selectively removing uranium from aqueous solution using organic solvents
• Stripping uranium from organic into clean aqueous solutions
• EU recovery may involve two separate solvent extraction processes – primary and secondary
• Utilizes nitric acid chemistry
Salting
• Uranyl nitrate: UO2(NO3)2
• Highly soluble in water• UO2(+2) + 2NO3(-1) ↔ UO2(NO3)2
• Balance between ions and undissociated • Nitrate salts push the equilibrium toward the
undissociated molecule• Undissociated molecule soluble in many
organics solvents (ethers, ketones, and alcohols)– Not paraffins (such as kerosene)
Salting Agents
• Common salting agents include nitric acid and ammonium, sodium, calcium, and aluminum nitrates
• Aqueous feed is loaded with salting agent to favor extraction in organic solvent
Distribution Coefficient• Concentration of component (uranium) in
organic phase to that in aqueous phase
From Benedict, Pigford, and Levi
Organic Solvents
• Dibutyl Carbitol (DBC)– with high nitrate and low acid concentrations, DBC is
efficient in removal of uranium– Product has lower uranium concentration than feed
• Tributyl Phosphate (TBP)– Nitric acid is an efficient salting agent with TBP– High density of TBP requires use of hydrocarbon
diluent– Very little nitric acid extracted– Higher uranium concentrations in aqueous effluent
(raffinate)
Solvent Extraction Flow Sheets
From Benedict, Pigford, and Levi
Solvent Extraction Flow Sheets
From Benedict, Pigford, and Levi
Types of Extraction Equipment
From Benedict, Pigford, and Levi
Primary and Secondary Extraction
• Primary: uses DBC– Advantages: scavenges uranium from feed,
has low uranium concentration• Secondary: uses TBP diluted in hydrocarbon– Advantages: requires little salting, produces clean
product– Disadvantages: high uranium concentration in
raffinate
Evaporation
ProcessCondensate
SteamCondensate
Evaporation
• Natural circulation• Evaporation rate regulated by steam pressure• Entrained liquid removed (cyclone and
demisters) returned to evaporator• Acid and water vapors condensed• Steam and process condensates discarded• Product withdrawal and feed rate regulated to
maintain target concentration
Production of Pure Uranium Compounds
• Denitration• Precipitation• Reduction
Denitration
• Thermal decomposition of UO2(NO3)2 to UO3
• Evolves water, NOx gasses, and uranium particulate
• Stirring action mills the powder particles• Walls are heated• Product overflows an adjustable dam• Gasses and particulate are treated in a packed
column (dissolver/scrubber)
Stirred-bed Denitrator
From Patton, Googin, and Griffith
Precipitation
• Aqueous (acidic) uranium precipitated by reaction with NH4OH (basic) or H2O2:
• Products are ammonium diuranate (ADU) or uranium peroxide
Precipitation
• pH carefully monitored• Precipitate nonstoichiometric• Consistency of gelatin• Must be dewatered – filtered or centrifuged• Filtrate or centrate discarded; will contain
residual uranium as light, suspended solids• Product collected in container (furnace
crucible or pan)
Supplemental Notes on Uranium Compounds
• Precipitates are converted to dry solids – UO3 – produced at lower temperatures– U3O8 – produced at higher temperatures– UO2 – higher temperatures, requires H and
absence of O2, product unstable in air– UF4 – produced from oxide reaction with HF
• Higher surface area particles are more reactive
• Calciners, furnaces, fluid beds, stirred beds
Uranium Metal Production
• Reduces UF4 to uranium metal by reaction with highly pure magnesium or calcium
• Reactant metal is uniformly mixed with UF4 and charged to the reactor– Typically in a crucible and with a sand liner– Lid secured tightly (energetic reaction)
• High temperature required during and after reaction to promote separation of U from slag
Typical Bomb Reduction Assemblies
From Patton, Googin, and Griffith
Uranium Metal Production
• Contents of the reactor mechanically separated
• Metal regulus is cleaned (pickled)• Slag discarded (could be used as salting agent
for solvent extraction)• Liner fragments discarded• Sand discarded or reused
Machining
• Cutting uranium metal generates heat and requires coolant to prevent fires involving turnings (chips, fines)
• Turnings are valuable and are collected for recovery
• Typically significant amounts are machined to remove surface defects from casting