Development and Research of Plasma-Chemical Technology for Producing Mixed Uranium and Plutonium Oxides from Solutions.

This paper presents the results of work on the application of plasma-chemical technology for producing uranium and plutonium oxides and their homogeneous mixtures from nitrate solutions of a given composition for the purpose of manufacturing fuel element cores. The technology is based on the process of high-temperature decomposition of aqueous solutions of salts by spraying them into a flow of the heat-transfer gas (air) heated to 5000–6000 K in a plasma torch. It is a highly productive short-stage process. No reagents are required for salt precipitation; there are no filtration and high-temperature treatment precipitation operations; the resulting powders are chemically active. It was found that the transformation time of salt solution drops to oxides is 0.05–0.10 s for the length of 0.5–0.7 m. The temperature in the reactor varies in the range of 1200–1800 K; no sintering and fusion of particles occurs. The apparatus-technological scheme of the plant has been developed. The technological equipment is made in a nuclear-safe design and installed in the exhaust boxes. The scheme includes a high-frequency induction plasmatron (plasma torch) with coaxial gas inlet into the discharge chamber. The high-frequency induction discharge is excited by inserting a grounded ignition electrode into the plasmatron discharge chamber. The plasmatron design provides the possibility of long continuous operation at high plasma temperatures with the creation of intense plasma-jet processes for processing radioactive solutions. The reactor provides ways to prevent product accumulation on the walls (gas curtain method, electric pulse cleaning of cylindrical surfaces, vortex tangential gas supply at the level of the outlet holes of the injectors). Equipment for the separation of nanodispersed oxide powders from high-temperature steam- and powder-gas flows (vortex precipitators, filters with a metal-woven partition) has been developed and applied. The degree of oxide recovery in vortex precipitators is 88–92% per stage; in filters with a metal-cloth partition, the degree of purification reaches 10⁵–10⁸. Plasma-chemical oxides are nanocrystalline and nanoscale materials, represented by crystalline and amorphous structures. Mixed powders are a homogeneous mixture of oxides in the form of solid solutions. The particle size does not exceed 3 μm; the crystallite size is about 10 nm. Fuel elements were manufactured from mixed powders at FSUE Mayak, which passed successful tests in the Bor-60 reactor. Seven industrial fuel elements were manufactured for the BN-600 reactor, six of which were loaded into the reactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]