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Why is nitric acid used to dissolve spent nuclear fuel in the PUREX process?
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uranium processing
How uranium is enriched to make a nuclear weapon.
In the PUREX process, nitric acid is used to dissolve spent nuclear fuel because it effectively converts the metal or oxide fuel into a soluble form, creating an aqueous solution from which uranium and plutonium can be recovered.12
Nitric acid is a powerful oxidizing agent and a strong acid, which allows it to react with the fuel components to form soluble nitrates. Once the fuel is dissolved, the resulting acid solution is contacted with an organic solvent, typically containing tributyl phosphate. This solvent acts as a complexing agent that selectively extracts uranium and plutonium into the organic phase, while leaving the majority of fission products behind in the nitric acid waste stream.3412