(621c) A Superblock Overview and How Process Modeling Can Help Modernize Pu Chemistry

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has a plutonium (Pu) processing facility the focuses on research within the facility. Housed in that facility, the chemical operations group is at the forefront due to its necessity to produce quality material that can then been utilized throughout the facility. This processing involves materials going through the plutonium aqueous recovery laboratory, where plutonium is put into solution and purified before being converted to plutonium dioxide (PuO2). The material is then sent to pyrochemistry. That process is able to convert PuO2 into impure Pu metal via direct oxide reduction, and through multiple additional steps prepares the plutonium for purification through electrorefinement. In order to better understand how these processes are conducted, the chemical operations group is implementing process modeling. The two combined together could help modernize the Pu processing flowsheet, and this talk will explain how chemistry and modeling work together to accomplish this goal. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.