Plutonium-242, production

The Hanford N Reactor. The Hanford N reactor was built in 1964 for purposes of plutonium production during the Cold War. It used graphite as moderator, pierced by over 1000 Zircaloy 2 tubes. These pressure tubes contained slightly enriched uranium fuel cooled by high temperature light water. The reactor also provided 800 MWe to the Washington PubHc Power Supply System. This reactor was shut down in 1992 because of age and concern for safety. The similarity to the Chemobyl-type reactors played a role in the decision. 

In plutonium-fueled breeder power reactors, more plutonium is produced than is consumed (see Nuclearreactors, reactor types). Thus the utilisa tion of plutonium as a nuclear energy or weapon source is especially attractive to countries that do not have uranium-enrichment faciUties. The cost of a chemical reprocessing plant for plutonium production is much less than that of a uranium-235 enrichment plant (see Uranium and uranium compounds). Since the end of the Cold War, the potential surplus of Pu metal recovered from the dismantling of nuclear weapons has presented a large risk from a security standpoint. 

Cost and Value of Plutonium. The cost of building all U.S. nuclear weapons has been estimated as 378 biUion in 1995 dollars (24). If half of this sum is attributed to U.S. weapons-grade plutonium production (- lOOt), the cost is 1.9 x 10 /kg of weapons-grade Pu. Some nuclear weapons materials (Be, enriched U, Pu) also have value as a clandestine or terrorist commodity. The economic value of reactor-grade plutonium as a fuel for electric power-producing reactors has depended in the past on the economic value of pure 235u... 

Nuclear Waste Reprocessing. Liquid waste remaining from processing of spent reactor fuel for military plutonium production is typically acidic and contains substantial transuranic residues. The cleanup of such waste in 1996 is a higher priority than military plutonium processing. Cleanup requires removal of long-Hved actinides from nitric or hydrochloric acid solutions. The transuranium extraction (Tmex) process has been developed for... 

Note that the only other plutonium production site in the U.S. was at Richland, Wa.shington where graphite-reflected light water cooled reactors were used. 

The DOE N-Reactor is one of the plutonium production reactors located on the Hanford Reservation near Richland, Washington. It is graphite moderated, pressurized water reactors that in addition to production of special nuclear materials also provided steam to turbine generators owned by the Washington Public Power Supply System for electric power production. It began op ition in 1 is put into standby status in 1988 and closed because of similarities to Chernobyl. 

Congress has decided that reprocessing will not be practiced in this country so that we will not be in the plutonium production business. This seems like a safe thing to do since this action will minimize terrorism threats. Reprocessing generates chemi cal wastes but greatly reduces the volume of the highly radioactive waste. It also isolates plutonium and unused fuel for possible use as new fuel. 

The nuclear power industry (270 nuclear reactors in 25 countries in mid-1982) now has a capacity of 200 GWe, which corresponds to an approximate annual plutonium production of 50 tonnes. The amount of plutonium accumulated from the industry is estimated to be 250 tonnes. The specific activity is 5.3X1011 Bq/g Pu for fresh spent fuel, mostly coning from 2ltlPu (6, 10). It is predicted that by the year 2000, the accumulated plutonium will amount to 2400 tonnes (6). 

Irradiated Fuel A historically important and continuing mission at the Hanford site is to chemically process irradiated reactor fuel to recover and purify weapons-grade plutonium. Over the last 40 years, or so, several processes and plants— Bismuth Phosphate, REDOX, and PUREX—have been operated to accomplish this mission. Presently, only the Hanford PUREX Plant is operational, and although it has not been operated since the fall of 1972, it is scheduled to start up in the early 1980 s to process stored and currently produced Hanford -Reactor fuel. Of nine plutonium-production reactors built at the Hanford site, only the N-Reactor is still operating. 

When 2x 10 M solutions of Pu(Vl) and U(IV) are mixed in 1 M HCIO4. solution, the main plutonium product is Pu(V) along with smaller amounts of Pu(iri) When 10 M concentrations are used, the stoichiometry does not deviate significantly from... 

Americium is released into surface water primarily from plutonium production reactors, nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, or in nuclear accidents. It may also be released from radioactive waste storage facilities. Since 241Pu decays into 241 Am,241 Am is also released as a result of 241Pu releases. Water sampling data were used to estimate effluent releases from the SRS from the plant s start up in... 

Attainment of the goal of balanced plutonium production and consumption and minimum inventory will require a number of decades. Paradoxically, achievement of the goal will be most important in the event that nuclear power is phased out, leaving large and increasingly accessible plutonium inventories in many countries if no provision for their destruction has been made. While the global abandonment of nuclear power is extremely... 

While the goal of bringing plutonium production and consumption into balance is a long term one, research and development on proliferation-resistant fuel cycles should be taking place at present. International cooperation ofthe appropriate countries in this R D is also essential. Failure to pursue a suitable R D effort and international cooperation is virtually certain to result in the adoption ofthe most proliferation-prone fuel cycle when the plutonium breeder is deployed in the next century. 

Hanford and Richland, Washington, was selected for industrial-scale plutonium production and chemical separations facilities on January 16, 1943. This site was named the Hanford Engineer Works (later named the Hanford Site). 

In only 30 months, the Manhattan Project built 554 buildings including reactors, separation plants, laboratories, craft shops, warehouses, and electrical substations. The Hanford Site plutonium production reactors (B, D, and F) were rectangular, measured 36 feet long by 28 feet wide by 36 feet high, used 200 tons of uranium metal fuel and 1200 tons of graphite, were water cooled, and operated at an initial power level of 250 million watts (thermal). They dwarfed the reactors at other sites. 

On September 13, 1944, the Hanford Site started the B Reactor. For approximately 1 hour all went well, but the reactor malfunctioned as a result of fission product poisons. On December 17, 1944, the Hanford Site D reactor was started and the B reactor was repaired and restarted. Large-scale plutonium production was under way. On February 25, 1945, the Hanford F Reactor was started. With these three reactors operating simultaneously, the theoretical plutonium production capacity was approximately 21 kilograms per month. 

DOE, Plutonium The First 50 Years, United States Plutonium Production, Acquisition, and Utilization from 1944 through 1994, DOE/DP-0137, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., 1996. 

Gephart, R.E., A Short History of Plutonium Production and Nuclear Waste Generation, Storage, and Release at the Hanford Site, PNNL-SA-32153, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 1999. 

Gerber, M.S., The Plutonium Production Story at the Hanford Site Processes and Facility History, WHC-MR-0521, Rev. 0, Westinghouse Hanford Company, Richland, WA, 1996. 

Figure 12.5 illustrates the basic components of the Purex process three purification cycles for both uranium and plutonium are shown. High levels of beta and gamma radioactivity are present only in the first cycle, in which 99.9% of the fission products are separated. The other two cycles, based upon the same chemical reactions as the first cycle, obtain additional decontamination and overall purity of the uranium and plutonium products. 

Subsurface contamination by uranium wastes and contaminant speciation during transport from a wastewater pond (originating from a plutonium production plant) to groundwater were studied by Catalano et al. (2006). Land disposal of basic sodium aluminates and acidic U(VI)-Cn(ll) and their redistribution in the vadose zone resulted in development of a groundwater nraninm plume. The solid phase speciation of nraninm from the base of the pond, throngh the subsurface, to the... 

The radioactive wastes associated with nuclear reactors fall into two categories (1) commercial wastes — the result of operating nuclear-powered electric generating facilities and (2) military wastes—the result of reactor operations associated with weapons manufacture, Because the fuel in plutonium production reactors, as required by weapons, is irradiated less than the fuel in commercial power reactors, the military wastes contain fewer fission products and thus are not as active radiologically or thermally. They are nevertheless hazardous and require careful disposal. 

DF for Total y Plutonium product Zr+Nb Ru Total y Uranium product Zr+Nb Ru... 

Stripping of the residual plutonium in the WS-2 Column with a small volume of 0.1M HNO3-O.IM HF solution. The resulting plutonium product is suitable for direct recycle to the mainline PRF TBP extraction process (Figure 1). 

Uranium fuel preparation takes the UF6 and is converted to either (a) aluminum-clad uranium metal for the weapons plutonium production reactors or (b) to Zirconium-clad U02 for electricity production in the light and heavy water power reactor (see Fig. 21.13). 

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