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Re: DU from recycling?
In partial response: Some of the uranium that was enriched in the U.S.
enrichment facilities at Paducah and Portsmouth came from the plutonium
production reactors, so there are isotopes other than U-234, U-235, and
U-238 in the depeleted fraction from the enrichment plants when they handled
that uranium.
On the question of plutonium hexafluoride: since the conversion to then
hexafluoride is done under highly oxidizing conditions, it seems to me that
you would get stable Pu(VI); it has certainly been produced in the LANL and
LLNL laboratories (in lab quantities}. Pu(V) is quite stable, and it seems
to me the pentafluoride would also survive the fluoridation process.
Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@chello.at>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2001 4:50 PM
Subject: DU from recycling?
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> RADSAFErs,
> =20
> I discussed the question of plutonium traces in depleted uranium with a =
> collegue. He seriously doubts that uranium, which was used for plutonium =
> production is enriched with DU as a byproduct. (You remember that the =
> Swiss laboratory in Spiez found traces of U-236 in depleted uranium from =
> Kosovo and said that this is a hint, that the uranium had been through a =
> nuclear reactor and that there=20
> m i g h t be even lower traces of Pu-239 in the material, but they had =
> not found any.) He says that plutonium fluoride is not stable and =
> therefore it could not be carried through the process of enrichment =
> together with uraniumhexafluoride. But then the question arises, where =
> the U-236 comes from. Isn't it so that natural uranium is used for =
> plutonium production? Is there any information available or is =
> everything still secret? The web-site of the DOE on recycled uranium, =
> which one of you recently distributed is "under reconstruction".........
>
> Franz
>
>
>
>
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> HTML//EN">
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> </HEAD>
> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2>RADSAFErs,</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2>I discussed the =
> question of plutonium=20
> traces in depleted uranium with a collegue. He seriously doubts that =
> uranium,=20
> which was used for plutonium production is enriched with DU as a =
> byproduct. (You=20
> remember that the Swiss laboratory in Spiez found traces of U-236 in =
> depleted=20
> uranium from Kosovo and said that this is a hint, that the uranium had =
> been=20
> through a nuclear reactor and that there </FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2> m i g h t =
> be even lower=20
> traces of Pu-239 in the material, but they had not found any.) He says =
> that=20
> plutonium fluoride is not stable and therefore it could not be carried =
> through=20
> the process of enrichment together with uraniumhexafluoride. But then =
> the=20
> question arises, where the U-236 comes from. Isn't it so that natural =
> uranium is=20
> used for plutonium production? Is there any information available or is=20
> everything still secret? The web-site of the DOE on recycled uranium, =
> which one=20
> of you recently distributed is "under=20
> reconstruction".........</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2>Franz</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT color=3D#000000 face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
> <DIV> </DIV>
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> size=3D2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
>
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