The Zirflex Process

tive dissolution of zirconium or Zircaloy fuel cladding. The process involves the dissolution of the cladding material in solutions of ammonium fluoride alone or in mixture with amonium nitrate. Mixtures of amonium fluoride and amonium nitrate are preferred since they result in very little evolution of hydrogen during the is that these solutions attack austenitic stainless steels only slowly, in sharp contrast to the media (e.g., hydrofluoric acid or hydrofluoric-nitric acid mixtures) generng 6 M NH/sub 4/F, the rate of pentration of Zircaloy-2 is nearly 100 mils/hr, while that of typical austentic stainless steels is only about 0.5 mil/month. (auth