Hanford Works Report HW-59283

In solvent extraction purification processes such as are used at Hanford, the fuel elements or "slugs" from the reactor containing uranium, plutonium, and fission products are dissolved in nitric acid, adjusted to the required feed composition, and pumped to the solvent extraction columns. Figure 1 in a schematic diagram of such a solvent extraction process. In the A column, the uranium and the plutonium are extracted into an organic phase while the bulk of the fission products remain in the aqueous phase and leave as waste with the column raffinate