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Thorium "Raffinate"



I'm sorry this is so late a response -- but I've been on the road, and
haven't seen anything on RADSAFE except the "guess" from Dave Abbott, which
is close, but not quite correct.

A "raffinate" is the waste stream of a solvent extraction process - i.e., one
containing the unwanted products (thorium, for example) - the desired product
being contained in the "extract" stream (uranium, for example).   Early
uranium purification plants in the US used diethyl ether as solvent for
purifying the uranium nitrate extract from ores -  the thorium raffinate
would have been the waste stream from such a purification process, although
other contaminants of concern (because of their effect on neutron absorption)
would also have included Boron, cadmium and rare earths.

Morton Goldman, Sc.D.
Consulting Engineer