PLUTONIUM TRICHLORIDE: PREPARATION BY REACTION WITH PHOSGENE OR CARBON TETRACHLORIDE, AND BOMB REDUCTION TO METAL

Batches of plutonium dioxide were chlorinated by reaction with phosgene or carbon tetrachloride. Plutonium trichloride prepared by either method can be reduced to the metal in an hermetically sealed bomb by reaction with calcium. It has been demonstrated that a method for the reduction of plutonium trichloride to the metal without the use of a booster can be developed. Soluble plutonium in slag and crucible waste can be precipitated as the hydroxide and washed essentially free of chloride contamination. The concentrated nitric acid solution from dissolution of plutonium hydroxide and other solids contains less than 75 ppm chloride. Of the materials tested the Hastelloy alloys A, B, and C were found to be the most resistant to phosgene corrosion. The corrosion of these alloys was found to lie between 1 x 10/sup -4/ and 2 x 10/sup -4/ in. per month at 300 deg C and between 1 x 10/sup -3/ in. per month at 450 deg C. The logarithm of the corrosion rate plotted as a function of the temperature appears to be linear over the temperature range of 300 to 550 deg C. Above 550 deg C the corrosion rate of all materials tested is excessive. (auth