Development of technology for high-purity 244Pu production by method of electromagnetic separation

The IAEA needs plutonium isotopic reference materials and spikes certified to an accuracy of 0.05% or better for the verification of large throughputs and inventories of plutonium under IAEA safeguards and for the isotopic analysis of traces of plutonium in environmental samples taken to confirm state declarations. At the request of the IAEA the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (RFNC) has defined a plan to produce highly enriched plutonium isotopes necessary for the preparation of the required reference materials and spikes. The objective is to produce about 260 mg of 99.74% enriched 242Pu and up to 100 mg of 99.56% enriched 244Pu by electromagnetic separation starting from 5 g of a feed material of US origin containing about 16% of 244Pu. A second enrichment cycle is foreseen to produce about 1 mg of 99.99% enriched 244Pu. In view of the limited amount of feed material, RFNC will upgrade its technologies and procedures for the preparation of high-purity plutonium chloride, the processes of ionisation, the radiochemical recovery of the material deposited on the collectors of the mass separator or scattered in the machine and the regeneration of the latter, before proceeding with the production of the isotopes requested by the IAEA. To cover the cost of this development RFNC has applied to the International Science and Technology Center for a grant which is presently under evaluation. The project described in this paper is undertaken with the close support and collaboration of the IAEA, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) and the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM).