Plan for the synthesis of actinide chlorides and fluorides without using gaseous agents

Abstract

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is setting up a new facility for the synthesis of actinide salts to support the experimental investigation of nuclear fuels for molten salt reactors. Several methods to synthetize actinide chlorides and fluorides were found in the literature and reviewed from the perspective of safety, practicality and efficiency. Processes that do not involve gaseous agents were selected to remove the need to handle corrosive/explosive gases. The aim of this work is to synthesize UCl₃, PuCl₃ , UF₄ and PuF₃ starting from U₃O₈, plutonium oxalate (C₆O₁₂Pu₂ ), UO₂ and PuO₂ , respectively. For the actinide chlorides, initial materials are reacted with hexachloropropene using a reflux apparatus. Reaction products are then filtered, dried, and subsequently reduced in a tube furnace by reaction with zinc. For the actinide fluorides, initial materials are reacted with ammonium bifluoride in a sealed reaction vessel placed inside a tube furnace.