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Plasma Chemical Processing of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

A. V. Ivanov
Affiliation:
Russian Research Institute of Chemical Technology, 33 Kashirskoe Avenue, Moscow 115230, [email protected]
V. M. Abashkin
Affiliation:
Russian Research Institute of Chemical Technology, 33 Kashirskoe Avenue, Moscow 115230, [email protected]
E. A. Filippov
Affiliation:
Russian Research Institute of Chemical Technology, 33 Kashirskoe Avenue, Moscow 115230, [email protected]
Y. N. Tumanov
Affiliation:
Russian Scientific Center, Kurchatov Institute, Moscow
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Abstract

A reprocessing of uranium hexafluoride waste, which was accumulated in the nuclear industry for many years, is a very vital question now. There are a lot of gas tanks filled with UF6 that have been exposed for a long time and are posing a serious ecological danger. A plasma chemical technique is proposed here to transform the uranium hexafluoride depleted with isotope 235U (less than 0.1%) into the safe storage form - powdered uranium oxides. The second product is HF (70–80% aqueous solution) which may be easily reprocessed by means of the rectification column up to pure anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.

The designed technological scheme and the basic technical characteristics of the plasma chemical converter are presented. The proposed technique is efficient, easy controlled and free of any harmful by-products.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

REFERENCES

1. Ivanov, V.S., Astavin, V.S., Tumanov, Yu.N. et al. Thermodynamics and kinetics of uranium fluorides in (Ar-H2O) - plasma. Proceeding of the 3-rd Conference on Uranium Chemistry (USSR). Moscow: Nauka, p. 90 (1985)Google Scholar
2. Tumanov, Yu.N.. Electrothermical processes in modern chemical industry and metallurgy (Rus.) Moscow: Energoizdat (1981)Google Scholar