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Plutonium Pyrochemical Salts Oxidation Using Vanadium Oxide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2011

Donna M. Smith ,
Mary P. Neu ,
Eduardo Garcia  and
Vonda R. Dole
Donna M. Smith
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos, NM 87545
Mary P. Neu
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos, NM 87545
Eduardo Garcia
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos, NM 87545
Vonda R. Dole
Affiliation:
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos, NM 87545
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Abstract

This paper presents results from the oxidation of PuCl3 with two-thirds, one, and two equivalents of V2O5 and the oxidation of Pu° with two and three equivalents of V2O5. All of the PuCl3 reactions were successful in that little or no starting materials remained and the major plutonium reaction product was PuO2. There is no evidence that V is reduced to V(II) or V°. According to powder XRD analysis, the bottom layers of all three reactions are identical, the middle layers contain different phases, and phases in the top layer of the oxidation with one equivalent of V2O5 is contained in the top layer from the oxidation with two-thirds equivalent of V2O5. The Pu° oxidations are more complex than the PuCl3 oxidations. More unreacted Pu° remains in the reaction using three equivalents of V2O5 than the reaction using two equivalents of V2O5. The lack of predictability of these reactions may be a result of the source of Pu° used in our experiments. The presence of soluble Pu(III) and the relative absence of PuO2 in all the Pu° reactions suggests V2O5 does not oxidize Pu° to Pu(IV) under these conditions. Chlorine is detected in the off-gas of the Pu° oxidations, indicating the salt matrix participates in the reaction.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 547: Symposium DD – Solid-State Chemistry of Inorganic Materials II , 1998 , 221
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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