A simple and fast fusion technique to recover plutonium embedded inside molten solidified Cu mass contained in refractory alumina crucibles

Abstract

Refractory plutonium oxide embedded inside molten solidified Cu in an alumina crucible was dissolved in dilute HNO3, after the pre-treatment solid state fusion reaction with (NH4)2SO4. The product obtained in various stages of reaction were characterised by X-ray diffraction analysis. The reaction between PuO2 and (NH4)2SO4 lead to formation of (NH4)2Pu(SO4)3 in the temperature range 350–440 °C. The reaction parameters such as amount of reactants, reaction temperature and isothermal heating time at different steps were optimised to maximise the recovery of plutonium. The efficiency of plutonium dissolution was found to be 98% by modified Drammond and Grant method.