Clean out of empty uranium hexafluoride cylinder

Hotoku, Shinobu ; Morita, Yasuji  

The UF is one of the most important U chemical forms in nuclear fuel cycle, which is used in the U enrichment process and in the study of fluoride volatility process, one of the dry reprocessing methods. Normally, UF is confined in the solid state in the cylinder container and handled as gas by adjusting the temperature and pressure. Since it is highly reactive with water vapor in the air, it must be carefully handled. By the reaction with water vapor, particle of UOF appeared as a white cloud and corrosive HF gas are released to the atmosphere. The purpose of this report is to describe safety handling for clean out of empty UF cylinder and to summarize physical and chemical properties of uranium compounds in relation to treatment for UF. The clean-out of the UF cylinder was carried out successfully by trapping the generated UOF and HF adequately in a temporary globe box made of the PVC that set up in a laboratory hood.