Purification and recovery of plutonium from uranium oxide obtained in the fast reactor fuel reprocessing plant using hydroxyurea as reductant

Spent fuel discharged from Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) in Kalpakkam is being reprocessed by modified plutonium uranium reduction extraction (PUREX) process using 30% TBP (tributylphosphate) as extractant in the presence of heavy normal paraffin (HNP) as diluent. Partitioning of uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) is carried out using oxalate precipitation method. Uranium oxide product obtained by this method contains appreciable amount of plutonium which has to be recovered. Recovery of plutonium from this uranium oxide product is carried out by reducing Pu to inextractable Pu(III) using hydroxyurea (HU) and then uranium is extracted into 30% TBP. A small amount of Pu which is extracted in the organic phase is stripped back to aqueous phase by scrubbing with scrubbing agent containing 0.1 M HU in 4 M nitric acid. Similarly U and Pu are co-extracted into 30% TBP and then Pu is removed by scrubbing with 0.1 M HU in 4 M nitric acid. Further decontamination from Pu is obtained in the stripping stages. By this method Pu contamination in the uranium oxide is brought from 7300 ppm to 0.4–3 ppm (wt/wt). This uranium product obtained can be handled on table top.