Recycling of chemicals from alkaline waste generated during preparation of UO3 microspheres by sol–gel process

Internal gelation process, one of the sol–gel processes for nuclear fuel fabrication, offers many advantages over conventional powder pellet route. However, one of the limitation of the process is generation of large volume of alkaline liquid waste containing hexamethylenetetramine, urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium hydroxide etc. Presence of ammonium nitrate with hexamethylenetetramine and urea presents a fire hazard which prevents direct disposal of the waste as well as its recycle by evaporation. The paper describes the studies carried out to suitably process the waste. Nitrate was removed from the waste by passing through Dowex 1 × 4 anion exchange resin in OH⁻ form. 1.0 M NaOH was used to regenerate the resin. The nitrate-free waste was further treated to recover and recycle hexamethylenetetramine, urea and ammonium hydroxide for preparation of UO₃ microspheres. The quality of the microspheres obtained was satisfactory. An optimized flow sheet for processing of the waste solution has been suggested.