Plutonium recovery from incinerator ash and centrifuge sludge by peroxide fusion

A technique was demonstrated for solubilizing the plutonium contained in incinerator ash and in other waste solids (such as solids accumulated by centrifugation after solvent extraction contacts in the plutonium reclamation facility at Hanford). A sodium hydroxide--sodium peroxide fusion is performed on the Pu-containing solids. The cooled melt is then dissolved in dilute nitric acid. Mild steel cans were used as ''single use'' crucibles for the fusions. Both the can and the cooled melt are dissolved in nitric acid. Fusion tests were conducted on three different cans of incinerator ash and on one can of centrifuge sludge. The series of tests demonstrated that a caustic-peroxide fusion treatment can yield 95 percent or greater recovery of plutonium from these waste solids. In most cases, quantitative recovery of the plutonium can probably be achieved by recycling the residual solids obtained in aqueous dissolution of the cooled fusion mixture. Tests with some of the incinerator ash and with the centrifuge sludge resulted in gelatinous precipitates which were difficult to separate from the nitric acid dissolver solutions. These gelatinous precipitates present what is probably the major problem to be overcome in the use of this Pu recovery method. Techniques need to be examined for making these residual solids less difficult to separate from the dissolver solution. (U.S.)