The recycle of depleted uranium waste products by a hydrometallurgical process

Nuclear Metals, Inc. has developed a process for recycling uranium scrap materials into high quality metal. The process involves the dissolution of scrap metal in an aqueous solution of 2.4 N HCI and 0.16 N HBF4, followed by precipitation of UF4 through the addition of HF. The precipitated green salt is Filtered, washed, dried, and heat treated after which it is suitable for reduction to metal. The product and the process are referred to as Hydromet, since it is a hydrometallurgical approach to producing green salt. Conventionally, green salt is produced by a pyrometallurgical technique. The steps of the process are described and results presented for derbies produced using Hydromet green salt. With proper process selection and appropriate heat treatment, green salt produced by Hydromet is fully equivalent to pyrometallurgical green salt. Hydromet green salt can be reduced to metal using the identical process used for pyromet green salt. Good quality, well-formed derbies can be readily produced. (author)