SRNL Recent Progress in Recovery of Plutonium-244 and Heavy Actinides from Mark-18A Targets

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Savannah River Site (SRS) K Reactor performed high-neutron-flux irradiations to produce unusual and heavy isotopes, including the first significant quantities of californium-252. The 86 Mark-18A target assemblies also produced, as byproducts, most of the world’s supply of plutonium-244 and “heavy” curium. In 2015, the Office of Nuclear Materials Integration, of the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration, initiated funding for a program to remove the 65 remaining targets from the SRS L Basin, recover the plutonium-244 and transplutonium elements in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) Shielded Cells Facility, and transfer the product material as oxide to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The project initiation and early progress was reported earlier in 2016 and 2017 INMM programs. SRNL has made significant progress over the last two years on multiple fronts towards development of the processes and equipment to complete the separations. Process design and equipment design are nearly complete. Procurement and fabrication of components is well underway. The progress and evolution of the program will be reviewed.