Recovery of Uranium Product by Retorting

The final process stream from the reduction furnace is about 8 liters of a Zn-12 w/o Mg-12 w/o U solution, weighing approximately 36 kg and containing about 4 kg of uranium. Work is in progress on the recovery of uranium from this solution in a form suitable for use as a supplementary feed material for the melt refining process. Retorting equipment is being developed to recover the uranium by distilling off the zinc and magnesium. To date, development of this retorting equipment has been directed specifically toward the recovery of uranium in the reprocessing of EBR-II fuel. However, a similar procedure may be required in other liquid metal fuel reprocessing schemes currently under consideration.