ADVANCED STUDIES ON PLUTONIUM FOR PU ISOTOPE TRANSMUTATION AND PU SEPARATION

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Research professor at BRNO University of technology Institute of Energy, Czech Rep., Main research fields: Nuclear reactors Engineering and Physics, PU material radiation and nuclear materials.

Abstract

ABSTRACT
In this paper, I discuss and present the advanced experiments methods for
thermochemical properties of plutonium in liquid gallium at 1073 k, application to
plutonium cerium separation and the theoretical studies on Pu isotope transmutation.
Electrochemical investigations on plutonium diluted in liquid gallium using molten
chlorides showed that gallium can be used as solvent metal for pyrochemical
processes involving plutonium at 1073 k. In particular, a selective extraction of
plutonium from gallium by anodic oxidation is thermodynamically possible. The
deposition of plutonium on a liquid gallium cathode is also possible with CaCl 2 as
molten salt with a careful control of cathode potential.

Keywords