Refurbishing and new capabilities of the extraction cycles of the Marcoule pilot plant

A brief description of the Pilot Facility at Marcoule, France, is given. The main characteristics of the extraction flowsheets are further detailed. The performance of the reprocessing line are discussed using the observed decontamination factors and recovery yields. It is effectively shown that a good βδ decontamination can be reached with only two extraction cycles and a second cycle partition. The process unit revamping increases the experimental possibilities such as the first cycle U/Pu partition realization and the comparison of various extraction contactors, packing types, pulsed columns operations, double acidity or reflux cycles. (author)