Recovery of Uranium and Plutonium from Uranium Dioxide Fuels in the Engineering-scale Alpha Facility

Process studies aimed at demonstrating the main steps of a fluid-bed fluoride volatility reprocessing scheme for UO₂-PuO₂ fuels were continued in the engineering-scale alpha facility. The primary objective of experiments performed in the facility is to investigate the possible difficulties in handling PuF₆ on an engineering scale. Further objectives are to determine the feasibility of fluoride volatility process flowsheets. Initial experiments involve the processing of UO₂-PuO₂ fuel containing synthetic fission products (F.P.); later experiments may be made with oxide fuel having low levels of fission product activity. The major processing steps of fluoride volatility processing are: decladding, fluorination of uranium and plutonium, distillation, purification of UF₆, and thermal decomposition of PuF₆ to PuF₄ .