Plutonium Loading Capacity of Reillex(tm) HPQ Anion Exchange Column-AFS-2 Plutonium Flowsheet for MOX.

摘要

Radioactive plutonium (Pu) anion exchange column experiments using scaled HB-Line designs were performed to investigate the dependence of column loading performance on the feed composition in the H-Canyon dissolution process for plutonium oxide (PuO2) product shipped to the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF). These loading experiments show that a representative feed solution containing approx. 5 g Pu/L can be loaded onto Reillex HPQ resin from solutions containing 8 M total nitrate and 0.1 M KF provided that the F is complexed with Al to an (Al)/(F) molar ratio range of 1.5-2.0. Lower concentrations of total nitrate and (Al)/(F) molar ratios may still have acceptable performance but were not tested in this study. Loading and washing Pu losses should be relatively low (<1%) for resin loading of up to 60 g Pu/L. Loading above 60 g Pu/L resin is possible, but Pu wash losses will increase such that 10-20% of the additional Pu fed may not be retained by the resin as the resin loading approaches 80 g Pu/L resin.