Patent ID: 7422626

Claim:
A method of declogging at least one filter of a plant for producing uranium oxide from uranium hexafluoride comprising: injecting gaseous hexafluoride UF 6 and steam into a reactor; forming uranium oxyfluouride UO 2 F 2 in powder form and gaseous hydrofluoric acid HF; separating uranium oxyfluoride UO 2 F 2 conveyed by gases containing gaseous hydrofluroic acid HF in an outlet part of the reactor in at least one filtration unit having at least one filter having a tubular filtration wall arranged with an axis vertical; and evacuating a gas containing hydrofluoric acid to the outside of the reactor, wherein the declogging of the filter comprises: separating uranium oxyfluoride UO 2 F 2 from the wall of the filter by a stream of inert gas injected into the filter counter-currentwise to a flow of the evacuated gas containing the hydrofluoric acid HF, wherein the inert gas is injected along the axis of the wall of the filter in a form of a jet with a velocity greater than 300 m/s for a duration of less than 1 second, wherein a nozzle is configured to inject the inert gas, the nozzle aligned with the vertical axis of the wall of the filter, the nozzle connected by a pipe for feeding the inert declogging gas to at least one distribution element.