SUMMARY REPORT, 1954-1959 RAW MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS AND GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO

Abstract

A brief review of the research work performed by the National Lead Company on the recovery of U from its ores is presented. A bibliography is presented which includes all reports on raw materials published by National Lead Company through Dec. 1958. Also included is a list of complete publications on raw materials from 1944 to 1954. (W.L.H.) low conditions at room temperature. Emphasis was placed on the effect of reaction parameters and mercury-recovery techniques on the Hg/sup 202/ content of the solid calomel formed in the reaction. For pure hydrogen chloride the Hg/sup 202/ content of the Calomel was found to be 39.9 plus or minus 0.3%, compared to the natural abundance of 29.8%. With 20 to 40 mole% of butadiene-1,3 in the hydrogen chloride, calomels containing 83 to 84% of Hg/sup 202/ were consistently obtained. The Hg/sup 202/ content of the calomel product was found to increase markedly when unsaturated hydrocarbons were added to the hydrogen chloride stream. The addends studied included butadiene - 1,3, benzene, isoprene, acetylene, propylene, and ethylene in order of decreasing effectiveness. From steady-state calculations the effectiveness of the addend can be shown to be determined by the rate ratio, k/sub 8// k/sub 4/. For the maximally enriching mixture of hydrogen chloride and butadiene, the effect of variations in lamp temperature and reaction pressure was studied. At lamp temperatures exceeding approximately 35 deg 'C, reduced enrichments were obtained owing to emission-line broadening. A progressive reduction in enrichment was also observed with substrate pressures greater than 25 mm, owing presumably to Lorentz-broadening of the hyperfine absorption contours of the Hg/sup N/ in the reaction cell. The Hg/sup 202/ content of the calomel product was determined by resonance radiation absorbiometry. The apparent Hg/sup 202/ abundances of the mercury recovered from the calomel product were found to depend strongly on the method used for isolating the enriched mercury from the calomel. Evidence was obtained for the occurrence of isotopically degradative exchange reactions during the recovery process. A recovery technique was developed which appeared to eliminate this exchange degradation. (auth)