The United States of America As Represented by the United States

Other

Milton H Lloyd

Jack L Collins

Paul A Haas

Victor L Fowler

Sam E Shell

A simplified internal gelation process for the preparation of gel spheres of nuclear fuels. The process utilizes perchloroethylene as a gelation medium. Gelation is accomplished by directing droplets of a nuclear fuel broth into a moving volume of hot perchloroethylene (about 85.degree. C.) in a trough. Gelation takes place as the droplets float on the surface of the perchloroethylene and the resultant gel spheres are carried directly into an ager column which is attached to the trough. The aged spheres are disengaged from the perchloroethylene on a moving screen and are deposited in an aqueous wash column.

Preparation of nuclear fuel spheres by flotation-internal gelation

Improved spherules for making enhanced forms of nuclear-reactor fuels are prepared by internal gelation procedures within a sol-gel operation and are accomplished by first boiling the concentrated HMTA-urea feed solution before engaging in the spherule-forming operation thereby effectively controlling crystallite size in the product spherules.

Method of controlling crystallite size in nuclear-reactor fuels

Method for direct coprocessing of nuclear fuels derived from a product stream of a fuels reprocessing facility containing uranium, plutonium, and fission product values comprising nitrate stabilization of said stream vacuum concentration to remove water and nitrates, neutralization to form an acid deficient feed solution for the internal gelation mode of sol-gel technology, green spherule formation, recovery and treatment for loading into a fuel element by vibra packed or pellet formation technologies.

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Oak Ridge, TN, United States of America

Milton H Lloyd