In response to specific requests of the AEC and as part of a Combined Operations over-all review, a number of engineering studies have been made of alternative methods for increasing availabiltiy of neptunium at Hanford. The report updates an earlier study in which recycling of both natural and enriched uranium was considered for Hanford. The earlier study showed that recycled natural uranium would provide appreciable gains in neptunium availability but at an excessive cost. Recycle of the slightly enriched uranium streams proved a more economical means of realizing smaller but still significant gains in neptunium production. Subsequent to the earlier …
continued below
Publisher Info:
General Electric Co., Richland, WA (United States). Hanford Atomic Products Operation
Place of Publication:
Richland, Washington
Provided By
UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Serving as both a federal and a state depository library, the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department maintains millions of items in a variety of formats. The department is a member of the FDLP Content Partnerships Program and an Affiliated Archive of the National Archives.
Descriptive information to help identify this report.
Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.
Description
In response to specific requests of the AEC and as part of a Combined Operations over-all review, a number of engineering studies have been made of alternative methods for increasing availabiltiy of neptunium at Hanford. The report updates an earlier study in which recycling of both natural and enriched uranium was considered for Hanford. The earlier study showed that recycled natural uranium would provide appreciable gains in neptunium availability but at an excessive cost. Recycle of the slightly enriched uranium streams proved a more economical means of realizing smaller but still significant gains in neptunium production. Subsequent to the earlier report, a feasible and immediately applicable scheme for UFI blending has been conceived demonstrating further advantages for recycling the enriched uranium. Approximately 34 kilograins of supplementary neptunium could be produced at Hanford during the next seven to eight years by upgrading irradiated E-metal and NPR uranium through a blending operation at Oak Ridge (rather than in the diffusion cascades) and then recycling the material through the Hanford reactors. (cf Table 1) Such a scheme would conserve uranium-236 for use as a source of neptunium-237 in the reactors without incurring major capital costs. Oak Ridge Operations personnel have estimated that capital needs for the requisite UF{sub 6} blending operation would not exceed $50,000 (Ref. 6). The program would not require extensive development efforts to demonstrate technical feasibility and would not interfere appreciably with normal fuel cycle operations. Production-scale recycling of E-metal could thus start immediately.
Physical Description
10 p.
Notes
OSTI as DE94012094; Paper copy available at OSTI: phone, 865-576-8401, or email, reports@adonis.osti.gov
This report is part of the following collection of related materials.
Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports
Reports, articles and other documents harvested from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is the Department of Energy (DOE) office that collects, preserves, and disseminates DOE-sponsored research and development (R&D) results that are the outcomes of R&D projects or other funded activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide and grantees at universities and other institutions.
