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US 9,896,738 B2Granted
Process for dissolving aluminum for recovering nuclear fuel
AssigneeSavannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC
InventorsPhilip M. Almond, William E. Daniel, Tracy S. Rudisill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for controlling the dissolution of a metal in an acid bath is described. The metal may comprise aluminum and the acid bath may contain a metal catalyst that causes the metal to dissolve. In order to control the rate of dissolution and/or the amount of gas evolved during the process, an iron source is added to the bath. In one embodiment, the process can be used to dissolve aluminum contained in spent fuel assemblies for recovering a nuclear fuel, such as uranium.
Claims21
A process for dissolving aluminum during the recovery of a nuclear fuel comprising:
- contacting a material containing aluminum and a nuclear fuel with an acid in the presence of a metal catalyst and an iron source, the acid and metal catalyst dissolving the aluminum, the iron source being present in an amount sufficient to decrease an off-gas stream rate during the dissolving process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.