DECONTAMINATION OF PLUTONIUM FOR FLUORIDE AND CHLORIDE DURING OXALATE PRECIPITATION, FILTRATION AND CALCINATION PROCESSES

Due to analytical limitations for the determination of fluoride (F) and chloride (Cl) in a previous anion exchange study, an additional study of the decontamination of Pu from F and Cl by oxalate precipitation, filtration and calcination was performed. Anion product solution from the previous impurity study was precipitated as an oxalate, filtered, and calcined to produce an oxide for analysis by pyrohydrolysis for total Cl and F. Analysis of samples from this experiment achieved the purity specification for Cl and F for the proposed AFS-2 process. Decontamination factors (DF's) for the overall process (including anion exchange) achieved a DF of {approx}5000 for F and a DF of {approx}100 for Cl. Similar experiments where both HF and HCl were spiked into the anion product solution to a {approx}5000 {micro}g /g Pu concentration showed a DF of 5 for F and a DF of 35 for Cl across the combined precipitation-filtration-calcination process steps