Plutonium-241Processing:From Impure Oxide to High Purity Metal Target Disks.

摘要

The preparation of three plutonium-241metal target disks,using a precision casting technique,is described. The disks were 0.625inch in diameter and 0.125, 0.025,and 0.010inch thick. All three disks were prepared simultaneously in a single casting. The variation in thickness of each disk was within +-1percent of the disk's average thickness. The plutonium-241was highly pure,and the finished disks contained a total of only 297parts per million of detectable impurities. Purification of the plutonium oxide (exp 241PuO sub 2 ) and the conversion of the purified exp 241PuO sub 2to metal are also described.