Redox Reduction Oxidation
Redox Reduction Oxidation : A process for separating the components of used nuclear fuel by solvent extraction. It was the first process to be used and was brought into operation at Hanford, United States, in 1951, but was superseded in 1954 by the Purex process. The key to the process was the alternate reduction and oxidation of the plutonium, hence the name. The solvent was Hexone (4-methyl-2-pentanone, methyl isobutyl ketone), so the process was also known as the Hexone process. The aqueous phase contained a high concentration of aluminum nitrate to salt out the uranium and plutonium nitrates into the organic phase. The presence of this aluminum nitrate in the wastes from the process, which made them bulky, was the main reason for the abandonment of the process. See also: Butex. Taube, M., Plutonium, Macmillan, New York, 1964, 130
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