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The PUREX process was invented by Herbert H. Anderson and Larned B. Asprey at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago, as part of the Manhattan Project under Glenn T. Seaborg; their patent "Solvent Extraction Process for Plutonium" filed in 1947, [14] mentions tributyl phosphate as the major reactant which accomplishes the ...
The first reprocessing approach is based on the PUREX (Plutonium Uranium Reduction EXtraction) process, which is the standard and mature technology applied worldwide to recover uranium and plutonium from spent nuclear fuel at industrial scale. Following the dissolution of the spent fuel in nitric acid and the removal of uranium and plutonium ...
PUREX, the current standard method, is an acronym standing for Plutonium and Uranium Recovery by EXtraction. The PUREX process is a liquid-liquid extraction method used to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, to extract uranium and plutonium, independent of each other, from the fission products. This is the most developed and widely used process in ...
The UREX process is a PUREX process which has been modified to prevent the plutonium being extracted. This can be done by adding a plutonium reductant before the first metal extraction step. In the UREX process, ~99.9% of the uranium and >95% of technetium are separated from each other and the other fission products and actinides. The key is ...
The biggest American military nuclear facility for the production of weapons-grade plutonium was Hanford site (in the State of Washington), now defueled, but in a slow and problematic process of decontamination, decommissioning, and demolition. There is "the canyon", a large structure for the chemical extraction of plutonium with the PUREX process.
REDOX, PUREX: Shut down 1944 1988 Military Savannah River Site: South Carolina: LWR PUREX: Shut down 5000 1952 2002 Civil West Valley LWR PUREX: Shut down 300 1966 1972 Civil Barnwell LWR Finished; never entered service 1500 INL LWR Shut down Morris Operation: Morris, Illinois: Construction halted; never entered service, completion proposed ...
La Hague in its early years. The La Hague site was built after the Marcoule site originally for producing plutonium for military purposes. In 1969 the French military, having had a sufficient supply of plutonium for weapons, had no further use of the reprocessing centre.
The current method of choice is to use the PUREX liquid–liquid extraction process which uses a tributyl phosphate/hydrocarbon mixture to extract both uranium and plutonium from nitric acid. This extraction is of the nitrate salts and is classed as being of a solvation mechanism. For example, the extraction of plutonium by an extraction agent ...