Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal decomposition studies of aqueous and nitric solutions of hydroxyurea

  • Published:
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydroxyurea and its derivatives are important nonsalt forming reductants in partitioning of uranium and plutonium in the nuclear fuel reprocessing operations. There is no experimental data available in open literature describing pressurization due to the thermal decomposition of aqueous and nitric solutions of hydroxyurea at elevated temperatures. Authors studied thermal decomposition of hydroxyurea-nitric acid system and resultant pressurization at various concentrations of nitric acid in an adiabatic calorimeter in closed-vent conditions. During these experiments, pressurization was observed. In this paper, results of these experiments have been discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  1. Naylor A (1967) Plutonium-uranium separation techniques in TBP systems-use of ferrous sulphamate, uranium(IV) and aqueous soluble complexing agents, in Kjeller Report KR-126-Reprocessing of Fuels from present and future power reactors, p. 172–228

  2. Miles JH (1989) Stabilisation of an element against oxidation during a solvent extraction process, UK Patent No. GB2216886A

  3. Zhaowu Z, He J, Zefu Z, Yu Z, Weifang Z (2004) Uranium/plutonium and uranium/neptunium separation by the Purex process using hydroxyurea. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 262:707–711. doi:10.1007/s10967-004-0497-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhaowu Z, He J, Zefu Z, Yu Z, Weifang Z (2004) Kinetics of the reduction of plutonium(IV) by hydroxyurea, a novel salt-free agent. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 260:601–606. doi:10.1023/B:JRNC.0000028219.44504.cf

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Sivakumar P, Meenakshi S, Subba Rao RV (2011), Partitioning of plutonium and uranium in aqueous medium using hydroxyurea as reducing agent. J Radioanal Nucl Chem (online published on 04 Nov 2011). doi:10.1007/s10967-011-1454-7

  6. Sivakumar P, Meenakshi S, Subba Rao RV (2011) Purification and recovery of plutonium from uranium oxide obtained in the fast reactor fuel reprocessing plant using hydroxyurea as reductant. J Radioanal Nucl Chem (online published on 29 Oct 2011). doi:10.1007/s10967-011-1446-7

  7. Kumar S, Sinha PK, Mudali UK, Natarajan R (2011) Thermodynamic properties of aqueous hydroxyurea solutions. In Proceedings of NUCAR 2011, Visakhapatnam, India. 212–213

  8. Internet information link: http://www.csb.gov/assets/document/Concept_case_study.pdf. Accessed on 22 Nov 2011

  9. Internet information link: http://articles.mcall.com/2000-06-15/news/3303465_1_explosion-chemical-hydroxylamine. Accessed on 22 Nov 2011

  10. Cardillo P, Lunghi A (1998) Hydroxyurea. Chem Engg News 76(22):6

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lunghi A, Aloni C, Gigante L, Mazzei N, Cardillo P (2002) Hydroxyurea explosion: a thermoanalytical and calorimetric study. J Loss Prev Proc Ind 15:489–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reprocessing Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, 603102, India

    Shekhar Kumar, Pranay Kumar Sinha, U. Kamachi Mudali & R. Natarajan

Authors
  1. Shekhar Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pranay Kumar Sinha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. U. Kamachi Mudali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. R. Natarajan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shekhar Kumar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kumar, S., Sinha, P.K., Kamachi Mudali, U. et al. Thermal decomposition studies of aqueous and nitric solutions of hydroxyurea. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 292, 1131–1135 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1639-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1639-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation