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Proliferation Resistance of Borosilicate Glass as a Host Formfor Weapons-Grade Plutonium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

G. S. Cerefice  and
K. W. Wenzel
G. S. Cerefice
Affiliation:
Bldg. NW12–312, 138 Albany St., Cambridge, MA. 02139; cerefice@mit.edu (Primary contact)
K. W. Wenzel
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Abstract

To examine the proliferation resistance of borosilicate glass, a process toextract and recover a plutonium analog (thorium) from borosilicate glass wasdeveloped and examined. The glass matrix examined was a modified standardfrit consisting of the ARM-1 frit (with simulated fission products) loadedwith 2 wt. % thorium (as an analog for plutonium) and 2 wt. % each of threerare earth elements (Gd, Sm, Eu), which were added for criticality controland to possibly increase the proliferation resistance of the glass matrix.The plutonium analog was extracted from the crushed glass with a nitric aciddissolution process, and subsequently decontaminated using a solventextraction process. The acid dissolution process was able to extract 88.4 ±6.8 % of the plutonium surrogate from the glass host form. The bench topsolvent extraction process was 30.2 ± 10.9 % efficient in recovering theplutonium analog as a purified product. Overall, this process was able toextract 26.7 ± 9.9 % of the plutonium analog from the glass as a purifiedproduct. To quantify the proliferation resistance of borosilicate glass as ahost form for weapons-grade plutonium, MCNP was used to determine thecompressed critical mass of a plutonium alloy with the same composition asthe product of the extraction process. For the average product composition,the compressed critical mass was 4.7 kg of material. On average, onecompressed critical mass could be recovered from 613 kg of borosilicateglass (2 wt. % Pu loading).

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Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 465: Symposium II – Scienfific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XX , 1996 , 1237
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

REFERENCES

[1] National Academy of Sciences, Committee on International Security and Arms Control. Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium. (National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1994) p. 2.Google Scholar
[2] A more complete description of the details of this work is given in Cerefice, Proliferation, Gary S. Resistance of Borosilicate Glass as a Host Form for Weapons-Grade Plutonium. (Masters Thesis, MIT. June 1996)Google Scholar
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