The hydrolysis and polymerization of plutonium and countermeasures in nuclear fuel reprocessing plants

Nuclear fuel reprocessing is the most important approaching to extract plutonium, aqueous solutions of plutonium is the primary formation in PUREX process. The chemistry of plutonium is very complex, any unstable transient conditions of reprocessing plant and inattentive action will lead to hydrolysis and polymerization of plutonium. While the polymer of plutonium once formed, it was very difficult to depolymerize, and it will affect the processing targets of separation seriously, and meanwhile it also will induce industrial safety problems and nuclear criticality safety risk potentially. In this paper, the research results of plutonium hydrolysis and polymerization were introduced, and the influencing factors and safety risks of plutonium hydrolytic polymerization were analyzed according to the characteristics of nuclear fuel reprocessing process and the countermeasures were put forward. (authors)