Simulation of uranium/plutonium splitting in a pulsed column in the purex process

The reductive plutonium stripping operations carried out in the Purex process, such as uranium/plutonium splitting, are sometimes difficult to get under control. When these operations are performed in pulsed columns, added to the complexity of the chemical reactions involved, are the specific features of this type of contactor, whose performance is governed by a set of equally complex factors. The perfect control of this process, both in the design phase and in the operating phase, requires the availability of a simulation tool incorporating the various aspects of the operation. The French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique accordingly set up a research programme aiming to develop a mathematical model simulating the behaviour of the different species concerned in unsteady state conditions