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PUREX (plutonium uranium reduction extraction) is a chemical method used to purify fuel for nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. [7] PUREX is the de facto standard aqueous nuclear reprocessing method for the recovery of uranium and plutonium from used nuclear fuel ( spent nuclear fuel , or irradiated nuclear fuel).
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 ...
Reprocessing capacity (tHM/yr) Construction start date Operation date Closure Purpose UP-1 Marcoule: Shut down 0.001 1958 1997 Military CEA APM Marcoule: Fast Breeder PUREX, DIAMEX, SANEX: Operational 6 1988 Civil UP-2 La Hague: LWR: PUREX: Shut down 900 1967 1974 Civil UP-2-400 La Hague: LWR PUREX: Shut down 400 1976 1990 Civil UP-2-800 La ...
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 ...
In nuclear reprocessing plants about 96% of spent nuclear fuel is recycled back into uranium-based and mixed-oxide MOX fuels. One of the main method for the separation of spent fuel is the PUREX process, which separates the plutonium and other transuranics from the remainder of the spent fuel. The uranium and plutonium are separated in turn in ...
The REDOX and PUREX facilities were placed on standby status in December 1967 and June 1972 respectively. Between 1967 and 1971, the number of workers employed at the Hanford Site plummeted from 8,500 to 5,500. The incremental closures did nothing to reduce the public outcry; if anything, the reverse was the case.
[citation needed] The cutting of the used fuel, the dissolving of the fuel in hot nitric acid and the first extraction cycle of a nuclear reprocessing PUREX process (highly active cycle) would need to be done in a hot cell. The second cycle of the PUREX process (medium active cycle) can be done in gloveboxes.
Russia spent nearly a decade developing techniques similar to nuclear pyroprocessing that allows them to reprocess spent nuclear fuel without separating the recycled uranium and plutonium as is done in the PUREX chemical reprocessing system used to manufacture MOX fuel.