Separating Metallic Beryllium from Plutonium by Selective Dissolution with Ammonium Fluoride

Plutonium metal is stabilized for long-term storage by calcining to produce PuO{sub 2}. However, if beryllium is present, the calcined product may have a high neutron dose rate because of the {sup 9}Be({alpha},n){sup 12}C reaction in the finely divided oxide mixture. (At LLNL, inadvertent calcining of a mixture of {approx}500 g Pu/50 g Be produced a neutron source of {approx}5 R/hr.) Therefore, for health physics reasons, we would like a convenient procedure to remove beryllium from plutonium with high selectivity. Two reagents, sodium hydroxide and ammonium fluoride, were considered for aqueous processing. Each reagent selectively dissolves beryllium, which can be separated from the insoluble plutonium by decanting/filtering operations followed by water washes to remove the excess reagent. The washed plutonium is calcined for storage; the beryllium and wash fractions are solidified for disposal