Production Prove-Out of a Process for Remelting Depleted Uranium Machining Chips by Vacuum Induction

摘要

An MM&T program to pursue a production prove-out of recycling depleted uranium machining chips in an existing vacuum induction remelting system was conducted. A viable method of processing DU chips and generating briquettes for remelting was developed. A pilot lot of 80 finished, machined M833 penetrators, fabricated under the guidelines of this program, is available for ballistic testing. Included in this report is a general analysis of facility requirements to implement chip recycling into the Aerojet production cycle.