Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery

292 Pages·1981·4.63 MB·English

by  James D. Navratil and Wallace W. Schulz (Eds.)

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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
Transplutonium Elements-
Production and Recovery
James D. Navratil, EDITOR
International Atomic Energy Agency
Wallace W. Schulz, EDITOR
01 Rockwell Hanford Operations
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Las Vegas, Nevada,
August 27-28, 1980.
ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES 161
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
WASHINGTON, D. C. 1981
In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
Library of Congress CIP Data
Transplutonium elements, production and recovery.
(ACS symposium series, ISSN 0097-6156; 161)
1
0
w0 "Based on a symposium cosponsored by the Divisions
1.f of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry and Nuclear
6 Chemistry and Technology at the Second Chemical
1
0 Congress of the North American Continent (180th
81- ACS national meeting), Las Vegas, Nevada, August
19 27-28, 1980."
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b Includes bibliographies and index.
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02 1. Transplutonium elements—Congresses.
0.1 I. Navratil, James D., 1941- . II. Schulz, Wal
1 lace W. III. Chemical Congress of the North Ameri
oi: can Continent (2nd: 1980: Las Vegas). IV. American
1 | d iCngh emCihcaeml Sisotrcyie.t yV. .D Aivmiseiroinca onf CInhdemusitcraial l Saoncdie tyE.n gDinieveir
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9 sion of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology. VI. Title.
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0, VII. Series: ACS symposium series; 161.
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y QD172.T65T7 621.48'335 81-7999
Jul ISBN 0-8412-0638-4 AACR2 ACSMC8 161 1-302
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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
ACS Symposium Series
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W. Jeffrey Howe Davis L. Temple, Jr.
James D. Idol, Jr. Gunter Zweig
In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
FOREWORD
1 The ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES was founded in 1974 to provide
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61.f format of the Series parallels that of the continuing ADVANCES
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1-0 IN CHEMISTRY SERIES except that in order to save time the
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9 papers are not typeset but are reproduced as they are sub
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bk- mitted by the authors in camera-ready form. Papers are re
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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
PREFACE
C
ertain of the transplutonium elements are used extensively in nuclear
gauges and in many other fields as well. Industrial-scale production
of these man-made elements requires development and application of
appropriate recovery, separation, and purification processes.
The 17 papers in this volume provide authoritative, in-depth coverage
of an important area of nuclear and industrial chemistry. In addition to 12
1 U.S. authored papers, there are papers from authors in France, Japan,
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pr0 Peoples Republic of China, Sweden, and West Germany. This volume thus
61. includes contributions from most countries in the world that have significant
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1-0 transplutonium element production and recovery programs and facilities.
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9 We believe that this collection of papers will provide members of the
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bk- nuclear community and chemists and engineers everywhere a comprehensive
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2 review of what is currently going on at the "bottom of the Periodic Table."
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oi: JAMES D. NAVRATIL
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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
INTRODUCTION
T
his collection of the state-of-the-art papers emphasizes the continuing
importance of industrial-scale production, separation, and recovery of
transplutonium elements. Americium (At. No. 95) and curium (At. No.
96) were first isolated in weighable amounts during and immediately after
World War II. Berkelium and californium were isolated in 1958 and
einsteinium in 1961. These five man-made elements, in each case, sub
01 sequently became available in increasing quantities.
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pr The U.S. transplutonium element production programs in the 1940s,
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16 1950s, and early 1960s used, successively, nuclear reactors at Oak Ridge,
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1- Hanford, Chalk River (Canada), and Idaho. Higher-flux reactors at
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1 Savannah River and Oak Ridge were used in the late 1960s and during
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02 curium, grams of californium, and milligrams of berkelium and einsteinium.
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10. The transeinsteinium elements up through element 106 are produced, by
oi: bombardment of lighter actinide isotopes with heavy ions, in tracer
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19 number.
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In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.
1
Production of Transplutonium Elements in the
High Flux Isotope Reactor
J. E. BIGELOW, B. L. CORBETT, L. J. KING,
S. C. McGUIRE, and T. M. SIMS
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box X, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
The National Transplutonium Element Production Program was
established in the late 1950's to concentrate the "large-scale"
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00 production of transplutonium elements at a central location.
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6 the country upon the recommendations of a Transplutonium Pro
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98 major laboratories which have an interest in transplutonium ele
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0 a high flux reactor and an adjacent radiochemical processing
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0. plant, which are capable of producing gram amounts of 252Cf and
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81 | d meassdeed eslaefmeelnyt sa nadr e reallil abilny teonnsley lyi nr aadn ioealcatbiovrea taen d recmaont eb eh apnr oc
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1 dling facility, such as the Transuranium Processing Plant (TRU).
20, This facility and some of the processes carried out therein for
uly recovery and purification of transplutonium elements are
e: J described in other papers in this symposium (2,3,4,5). We
at have now made over 1000 shipments of these products to 30 dif
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n ferent laboratories throughout the U.S. and in several foreign
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bli All of this would not be possible without the High Flux
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P Isotope Reactor (HFIR) to serve as a source of neutrons to carry

out the transmutation of the elements. Since first reaching
full power (100 MW) on October 21, 1966, the HFIR has logged
4148 equivalent full power days through December 31, 1979, for
an overall operating efficiency of 86%. During many years, this
figure has run 93% or more.
The purpose of this paper is to indicate the capabilities of
the HFIR for transplutonium element production and particularly
to dwell on the mathematical techniques involved in forecasting
the composition of irradiated target materials. Also described
are some of the uses to which such forecasts are put. Early work
along this line was published by Burch, Arnold, and Chetham-
Strode (6), providing the basis for design of HFIR and TRU.
0097-6156/81/0161 -0003$05.00/0
© 1981 American Chemical Society
In Transplutonium Elements—Production and Recovery; Navratil, J., el al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1981.