A SUMMARY REPORT OF ALL PILOT PLANT WORK DONE IN DEVELOPING A CONTINOUS PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF UF4

摘要

All the promising work done in developing a continuous process for the production of UF4 was with the same type of equipment. UO2 was fed by a screw feeder to a horizontal tubular reac¬tor and conveyed through the reactor by some type of screw conveyor, AHF in gaseous form was introduced to the reactor at the discharge end, to give countercurrent flow, and the ex¬haust gases were removed at the feed end of the reactor. Heat was applied externally to the reactor during the process.nExperiments with various metals and alloys have shown Illium R (rolled) to be the best material of construction for both conveyors and reactors. Illium R, an Illium Corporation product, has, at elevated temperatures, a high creep strength and good resistance to AHF and HF-H20 mixtures. Inconel would be a second choice as a material of construction.