Development program to recycle and purify plutonium-238 oxide fuel from scrap

Abstract

Nuclear Materials TechnologyDivision has initiated a development program to recover &purify plutonium-238 oxide from impure sources. A glove box line has been designed and a process flowsheet developed to perform this task on a large scale. Our initial effort has focused on purification of 238P~02 fuel that fails to meet General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) specifications because of impurities. The notable non-actinide impurities were silicon and phosphorus, but aluminum, chromium, iron and nickel were also near or in excess of limits specified by GPHS fuel powder specifications. Among actinide impurities, uranium is of paramount concern because 234U is the daughter of 238pU by alpha decay, and is the largest actinide impurity.