Fabrication of zircon for disposition of weapons plutonium Metadata

Title

• Main Title Fabrication of zircon for disposition of weapons plutonium

Creator

• Author: Kim, K.C.
  Creator Type: Personal
• Author: Huang, J.Y.
  Creator Type: Personal
• Author: Serrano, P.L.
  Creator Type: Personal

Contributor

• Sponsor: United States. Department of Energy.
  Contributor Type: Organization
  Contributor Info: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)

Publisher

• Name: Los Alamos National Laboratory
  Place of Publication: New Mexico
  Additional Info: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

Date

• Creation: 1997-07-01

Language

• English

Description

• Content Description: This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In an effort to address the problems of long term storage and nuclear waste minimization, zircon has been proposed as a host medium for plutonium and other actinides recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons. The objective of this work is to investigate the feasibility of large scale fabrication of Pu-bearing zircon. Since PuO{sub 2} is thermodynamically less stable than ZrO{sub 2}, it is expected that the process parameters determined for synthesizing ZrSiO{sub 4} (zircon) would be applicable to those for PuSiO{sub 4} (Pu-zircon). Furthermore, since the foremost concern in plutonium processing is the potential for contamination release, this work emphasizes the development of process parameters, using zircon first, to anticipate potential material problems in the containment system for reaction mixtures during processing. Stoichiometric mixtures of ZrO{sub 2} and SiO{sub 2}, in hundred-gram batches, have been subjected to hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at temperatures near 1,500 C and pressures approximately 10,000 psi. The product materials have been analyzed by x-ray powder diffraction, and are found to consist of zircon after approximately two hours of reaction time. From this work, it is clear that the fabrication of large quantities of Pu-zircon is feasible. The most notable result of this work is evidence for the existence of container problems. This result, in turn, suggests potential solutions to these problems. Experiments with the quartz inner container, the glass sealant, a sacrificial metal barrier, and a metal outer container are being investigated to mitigate these potential hazards.
• Physical Description: 15 p.

Subject

• Keyword: Radioactive Waste Disposal
• Keyword: Hot Pressing Nesdps Office Of Nuclear Energy Space And Defense Power Systems
• Keyword: Minimization
• Keyword: Plutonium Compounds
• STI Subject Categories: 36 Materials Science
• Keyword: Waste Forms
• STI Subject Categories: 05 Nuclear Fuels
• Keyword: Zircon
• Keyword: Doped Materials
• Keyword: Nuclear Weapons Dismantlement
• Keyword: Fabrication
• Keyword: Nesdps Office Of Nuclear Energy Space And Defense Power Systems
• Keyword: Silicates
• Keyword: Containers

Source

• Other Information: PBD: [1997]

Collection

• Name: Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports
  Code: OSTI

Institution

• Name: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
  Code: UNTGD

Resource Type

• Report

Format

• Text

Identifier

• Other: DE97007839
• Report No.: LA-UR--97-1519
• Grant Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• DOI: 10.2172/515554
• Office of Scientific & Technical Information Report Number: 515554
• Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc699257

Note

• Display Note: INIS; OSTI as DE97007839