Preliminary studies of a continuous process for the thermal decomposition of uranyl nitrate hexahydrate

At the request of the A.E.C., experiments were conducted on the continuous addition of liquid UNH to a bed of powdered UO{sub 3} in a gas heated pot in the Pot Room of Plant 6 to gather thermal data regarding the continuous decomposition of UNH and to make observations of the physical behavior of such a system. The thermal data indicate that the size and the energy requirements of the equipment required per pound of UO{sub 3} produced would be considerably smaller than for the present batch-wise process. The products of the reactions through all the successive stages were more dense than the products of the present process. The metal yields in the reduction stage were 98.5%, 97.6% and 97.8%. The yield of 98.5% in the one reactor indicates that this process will produce UF{sub 4} capable of producing as high yields as any yet made. The lower yields in the other two cases fall within the present control limits for yield. The determination of the physical and chemical properties has not yet been completed and will be reported shortly in a subsequent paper