Design practices for uranium purification - Part 1: Process and operating parameters

This paper presents the principles that shall be considered in the design of a uranium purification unit for conversion plants. In addition, the influence of the main variables and operating parameters in the process is presented as well as some recommended values for the design of new plants. The purification unit in conversion plants has the function of removing impurities contained in uranium ore to obtain nuclear-grade uranium hexafluoride (UF6). To achieve this purpose, the solvent extraction technique is used. This process may be performed using perforated pulsed columns in three distinct steps: extraction, scrubbing, and stripping. These steps are discussed individually. The precise evaluation of process parameters constitutes a fundamental step in the design of a conversion plant purification unit. The design practices shall therefore consider, as often as possible, greater operational flexibility of the plant so that the unit can produce a final product with very well-defined characteristics, independent from the composition of the material to be purified or from the operational variations that may occur during the industrial product processing