Mary Ann Stroud

Surveillance and Monitoring Program Full-Scale Experiments to Evaluate the Potential for Corrosion in 3013 Containers

A set of six long-term, full-scale experiments were initiated to determine the type and extent of corrosion that occurs in 3013 containers packaged with chloride-bearing plutonium oxide materials. The materials were exposed to a high relative humidity environment representative of actual packaging conditions for the materials in storage. The materials were sealed in instrumented, inner 3013 containers with corrosion specimens designed to test the corrosiveness of the environment inside the containers under various conditions. This report focuses on initial loading conditions that are used to establish a baseline to show how the conditions change throughout the storage lifetime of the containers.

Assessment of Residual Stresses in 3013 Inner and Outer Containers and Teardrop Samples

This report is an assessment performed by LANL that examines packaging for plutonium-bearing materials and the resilience of its design. This report discusses residual stresses in the 3013 outer, the SRS/Hanford and RFETS/LLNL inner containers, and teardrop samples used in studies to assess the potential for SCC in 3013 containers. Residual tensile stresses in the heat affected zones of the closure welds are of particular concern.

Purification of Plutonium Chloride Solutions via Precipitation and Washing

Abstract Pyrochemical operations at Los Alamos Plutonium Facility use high temperature melts of calcium, sodium, and potassium salts in the plutonium metal purification process. Aqueous chloride operations recover the remaining plutonium from the residue salts, generating copious quantities of corrosive aqueous waste while occupying a large area of the facility. To minimize these problems, an alternative flow sheet was tested in which dissolved salts were precipitated and washed to remove interstitial chloride before further processing in aqueous nitrate operations. Results of the tests will be discussed from the perspective of chloride removal, plutonium recovery, filterability, and waste minimization.

Purification of aqueous plutonium chloride solutions via precipitation and washing.

Pyrochemical operations at Los Alamos Plutonium Facility (TA-55) use high temperature melt s of calcium chloride for the reduction of plutonium oxide to plutonium metal and hi gh temperature combined melts of sodium chloride and potassium chloride mixtures for the electrorefining purification of plutonium metal . The remaining plutonium and americium are recovered from thes e salts by dissolution in concentrated hydrochloric acid followed by either solvent extraction or io n exchange for isolation and ultimately converted to oxide after precipitation with oxalic acid . Figur e 1 illustrates the current aqueous chloride flow sheet used for plutonium processing at TA-55 .