Removal of fluoride impurities from UF.sub.6 gas
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorJames V. Beitz
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Abstract
A method of purifying a UF.sub.6 gas stream containing one or more metal fluoride impurities composed of a transuranic metal, transition metal or mixtures thereof, is carried out by contacting the gas stream with a bed of UF.sub.5 in a reaction vessel under conditions where at least one impurity reacts with the UF.sub.5 to form a nongaseous product and a treated gas stream, and removing the treated gas stream from contact with the bed. The nongaseous products are subsequently removed in a reaction with an active fluorine affording agent to form a gaseous impurity which is removed from the reaction vessel. The bed of UF.sub.5 is formed by the reduction of UF.sub.6 in the presence of UV light. One embodiment of the reaction vessel includes a plurality of UV light sources as tubes on which UF.sub.5 is formed.
Claims11
A method of purifying a uranium hexafluoride gas stream containing a gaseous fluoride impurity of a transuranic metal, transition metal, or mixtures thereof, comprising the steps of contacting the gas stream with a bed of uranium pentafluoride at a temperature and time sufficient to react at least a portion of gaseous impurity with the uranium pentafluoride to form nongaseous product retained on the bed and thereby forming a treated gas stream, and removing the treated gas stream from contact with the bed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.