Abstract

Abstract The past 20 years have seen significant growth in the development and application of pyrochemical technology for the processing of plutonium. Non-aqueous high temperature processes offer key advantages over conventional hydrometallurgical systems for particular feed stocks and specific applications. Major processes in use today include 1. (1) direct oxide reduction for the conversion of PuO2 to metal 2. (2) molten salt extraction for americium removal from plutonium metal 3. (3) molten salt electrorefining for plutonium metal purification 4. (4) hydriding to remove plutonium from host substrates. Current major pyrochemical processes ranging from the classical calcination-fluorination-“bomb reduction” sequence to new techniques under development are reviewed. Each process is presented and brief descriptions of the production equipment are given.

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