Abstract
ABSTRACT The production of 238Pu from 237Np, to the specifications required for space flight, requires the separation of plutonium from neptunium and a range of fission products. The valuable neptunium is then recycled into targets for further irradiation. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a solvent extraction process has been developed to separate neptunium and plutonium that uses sodium nitrite to control the neptunium oxidation. This results in a neptunium product contaminated with sodium, which needs to be removed prior to recycling. We have developed a separation process that results in a sodium-free neptunium product with very low levels of plutonium contamination, there by reducing the number of purification steps and thus simplifying the process.
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