Installation and method for converting uranium hexafluoride to uranium dioxide
AssigneeFramatome
InventorsBruno Mesona, Stéphane Hebrard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An installation for the conversion of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to uranium dioxide (UO2) comprises a hydrolysis reactor (4) for the conversion of UF6 into uranium oxyfluoride powder (UO2F2), a pyrohydrolysis furnace (6) for converting the UO2F2 powder supplied by the reactor (4) into UO2 powder, a supply device (8) comprising reagent injection ducts (10) for the injection of UF6, water vapor or H2, and a control system (16) designed to control the supply device (8) so as to supply at least one of the reagent injection ducts (10) with a neutral gas during a shutdown or start-up phase of the conversion installation.
Claims13
A conversion installation for converting uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into uranium dioxide (UO2), the conversion installation comprising:
- a hydrolysis reactor configured for converting of UF6 into uranium oxyfluoride powder (UO2F2) by reaction between gaseous UF6 and dry water vapor injected into the hydrolysis reactor;
- a pyrohydrolysis furnace configured for converting the UO2F2 powder supplied by the hydrolysis reactor into UO2 powder by reacting the UO2F2 powder with dry water vapor and dihydrogen (H2) gas injected into the pyrohydrolysis furnace;
- a supply device comprising reagent injection ducts configured for injecting UF6, water vapor or H2, each reagent injection duct being configured to supply the hydrolysis reactor or the pyrohydrolysis furnace;
- and
- a control system configured to control the supply device so as to supply at least one of the reagent injection ducts with a neutral gas during a stopping or starting phase of the conversion installation,
- wherein the control system is configured to control the supply device to inject an inert gas in the pyrohydrolysis furnace during the stopping or starting phase of the conversion installation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.