Separation of uranium from noble and refractory metals

摘要

Uranium values are separated from refractory and noble metals from which rare earth fission products and plutonium values have been removed by dissolving the impure material in a molten alloy of Cu containing 4-8% Mg, contacting the alloy with a molton salt containing an alkali metal chloride or alkaline earth metal chloride to oxidize the uranium to uranium chloride which dissolves in the melt and contacting the molten salt with a molten Mg alloy to reduce the uranium chloride to uranium which precipitates. The process is preferably carried out at 725-850 DEG C. and the Mg alloy may contain 30-65% Zn.