Patent ID: 6800262
Filing Date: 2004-10-05
Classification: C01G

Abstract:
A method for the formation of UCl3 including:heating a containment vessel to approximately 600Â° C.; establishing a base layer of cadmium in a base portion of the containment vessel where said cadmium layer is molten at 600Â° C.; establishing a second initial layer of salt above the layer of cadmium where said salt layer is molten at 600Â° C.; feeding chlorine gas through a hollow tube into the cadmium layer to form CdCl2 which is less dense than the cadmium and thus, rises into the molten salt layer; suspending a basket containing a plurality of uranium ingots in the molten salt layer in such a manner that the uranium ingots react with the CdCl2 to form UCl3 which is soluble in the molten salt; providing sufficient reaction time to allow most of the uranium to react with the CdCl2; controlling a flow rate of Cl2 so that heat generated by a pair of exothermic reactions, Cd+Cl2â†’CdCl2 and 3CdCl2+2Uâ†’2UCl3+3Cd which occur in the containment vessel is balanced by a heat removal rate from the containment vessel to maintain the temperature within the containment vessel at approximately 600Â° C.; removing the basket from the salt layer; cooling the containment vessel to between 450Â° C. and 500Â° C. and pressure siphoning a product salt containing the UCl3 from the containment vessel leaving a small heel of salt and the cadmium.