Metallurgical considerations for the fabrication of low-enriched uranium dispersion targets with a high density for .sup.99Mo production

It is necessary to develop high-uranium-density targets with low enriched uranium in order to improve .sup.99Mo production efficiency. In order to investigate the use of high density low enriched uranium (LEU) dispersion targets using atomized U-Al alloy powder, U-10 wt% Al and U-20 wt% Al powders were fabricated by centrifugal atomization. Metallurgical reactions between uranium and aluminum during the hot working were investigated in order to minimize changes in the established chemical processes for .sup.99Mo extraction. It is concluded that LEU based dispersion target plates with increased uranium density can be fabricated by controlling the chemical reactions between U and Al in atomized U-Al alloy powders.