Investigation into plutonium separation from sorbents and high-active wastes of gas-fluoride technology

The results of investigation into the interaction of plutonium fluorides and some fission products with metal oxides in the molten alkali metal fluorides are presented. Plutonium tetrafluoride reacts with calcium and aluminium oxides forming plutonium dioxide. The plutonium dioxide is slightly soluble in molten salts and it may be quantitatively separated from them. The effect of an oxide precipitant nature on the complete plutonium separation from the molten salts and on its purification from fission products is studied. It is shown that an aluminium oxide precipitates plutonium from the melt, but it does not react with the rare earth fluorides, thus permitting the plutonium separation from the rare earth compounds which form the bulk of fuel fluorating residues