Plutonium Trichloride:  Preparation by Reaction with Phosgene or Carbon Tetrachloride and Bomb Reduction to Metal (open access)

Plutonium Trichloride: Preparation by Reaction with Phosgene or Carbon Tetrachloride and Bomb Reduction to Metal

Thirty gram patches of plutonium dioxide can be readily chlorinated by reaction with phosgene or carbon tetrachloride at temperatures of 350 and 450 C respectively. Plutonium trichloride prepared by either method can be reduced to the metal in a hermetically sealed bomb by reaction with calcium. On a twenty gram scale yields of approximately 97 per cent are obtained when a calcium-iodine booster is employed. It has been demonstrated that a method for reduction of plutonium trichloride to the metal without the use of a booster can be development.
Date: December 3, 1953
Creator: Tolley, W. B.
System: The UNT Digital Library