RE: How DU was used in the production of Pu

[Rodney Bauman <RBauman@wssrap.com>]

The UO3 was produced from UNH extracted from Hanford's PUREX, REDOX, T, B
and U chemical separation plants.  And yes, much of the uranium would have
been slightly depleted.  However, full operation of the three GDPs required
an enormous quantity of uranium stock feed.  Maybe the mining industry
couldn't keep up and it was judged that going after the rich stock of
"slightly" depleted uranium in Hanford's waste tanks was more efficient than
expanding the mining operations.  I do not know the exact justification for
initiating the "recycling" of uranium.

Again, I'm sure that some detailed reports of this subject will soon be
released by the DOE.  I believe these reports will answer most everyone's
questions.

Rodney Bauman, CHP, RRPT
rbauman@wssrap

-----Original Message-----
From: Bernard L Cohen [mailto:blc+@pitt.edu]
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 8:52 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: How DU was used in the production of Pu

On Thu, 1 Feb 2001, Rodney Bauman wrote:
> 
>  Starting in 1952, the GDPs
> (mostly Paducah) received "recycled" uranium from Hanford in the form of
> UO3.  The UO3 was converted to UF6 and fed into the cascades to supplement
> the natural feed stream.  The program was so efficient that during FY
1973,
> approx. 65% of Paducah's cascade feed was of "recycled" origin.

	-What was the source of the U03 from Hanford? If it was from Pu
production reactors, it would be depleted and therefore less efficient as
a feed for a GDP than natural U. 

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