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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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NNSA awards BWXT $1.5B defense fuels contract
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded BWX Technologies a contract valued at $1.5 billion to build a Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) pilot plant in Tennessee in support of the administration’s efforts to build out a domestic supply of unobligated enriched uranium for defense-related nuclear fuel.
L. J. Anastasia, P. G. Alfredson, M, J. Steindler
Nuclear Technology | Volume 4 | Number 5 | May 1968 | Pages 320-329
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT68-A26397
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fluorination of uranium and plutonium oxides to the volatile hexafluorides, UF6 and PuF6, is a major step for the fluidized-bed volatility processing of spent Zircaloy-clad UO2-PuO2 power reactor fuel. This step was studied in a 2-in.-diam reactor using 0.3- to 1.2-kg charges of simulated spent fuel pellets containing UO2, PuO2, and nonradioactive oxides of elements that would be formed in fission. Retention of uranium and plutonium by the fluidized bed of inert alumina, which is discarded after serving as a heat-transfer medium, was minimized and amounted to only 0.02% of the uranium and 3.5% of the plutonium in a 0.65-kg pellet charge. The total plutonium retention was reduced to ∼ 1% of the plutonium charge by using a single 1.2-kg bed of alumina to process three charges (1.95 kg) of fuel pellets.