Butex process

But-3-en-2-one, 1,1, l-trifluoro-4-(2-thienyl)-4-mercapto-liquid—liquid extraction, 1, 544 Butex process, 6, 938 But-2-yne-l,4-diol hydrogenation... 

Table II Some Decontamination Factors in the Butex Process...

Following successful pilot-plant tests at Chalk River [N4], the Butex process was adopted for large-scale separation of plutonium, uranium, and fission products from natural uranium irradiated to low bumup at the Windscale plant of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority [H8]. Even after its use in this application was replaced by the Purex process, the Butex process remained in use at Windscale for primary decontamination of high-bumup fuel until the 1970s. Then an explosion, probably due to reaction of nitric acid vnth solvent, terminated its use. 

A solvent extraction process similar to Purex using TBP was developed by the Commissariat a I Energie Atomique [Gl] for use in the French plutonium separation plant at Marcoule. Since then, the Purex process has replaced the Butex process at Windscale [W3], has been used in the Soviet Union [Sll], India [S7], and Germany [S3], and by now is the universal choice for separation of uranium and plutonium from fission products in irradiated sUghtly enriched uranium. Fuel from the liquid-metal fast-breeder reactor (LMFBR) is also reprocessed by the Purex process, with modifications to accommodate the higher concentrations of plutonium and fission products. 

Outline of selected Butex process. (From Flagg, J.F., ed. 1961. Nuclear science and technology, chemical processing of reactor fuels. Other Wet Separation Methods. New York Academic press, pp. 305-34Z Chap. VIII.)... 

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