The Honeywell Uranium Hexafluoride Processing Facility, a

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

conversion facility, is located northwest of Metropolis, Illinois, United States. The plant,

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

Specialty Chemicals Speciality chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...

in Metropolis, Illinois, has a nominal capacity of 15,000 tU as

uranium hexafluoride Uranium hexafluoride (), (sometimes called "hex") is an inorganic compound with the formula UF6. Uranium hexafluoride is a volatile white solid that reacts with water, releasing corrosive hydrofluoric acid. The compound reacts mildly with alumin ...

per year.

ConverDyn ConverDyn is a general partnership between American multinational firms General Atomics and Honeywell that provides uranium hexafluoride (UF6) conversion and related services to utilities operating nuclear power plants in North America, Europe, an ...

, a general partnership between affiliates of

and General Atomics, is the exclusive agent for conversion sales from the Honeywell Uranium Hexafluoride Processing Facility.

History

Built in 1958, the Honeywell Metropolis Works Facility is the only uranium hexafluoride conversion facility in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The plant has an annual conversion capacity of approximately 15,000 tU as UF₆ accounting for approximately 20% of worldwide production capacity. The plant feeds U₃O₈ yellowcake received from uranium mines and produces uranium hexafluoride gas for enrichment at one of the primary enrichment sites around the world. After being enriched, product is fabricated into nuclear fuel that ends up generating electricity at a nuclear power plant. On November 20th 2017, the metropolis facility closed due to market demands Honeywell plans to have the Metropolis facility back up and running to its full potential as early as January of 2023. Workers are currently making repairs in anticipation of the startup

Conversion Process

Honeywell Metropolis Works deploys a unique technology and process by which it converts yellowcake to uranium hexafluoride gas. The other Western conversion facilities,

Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...

and Cameco, each utilize a process that requires two different facilities, one to convert yellowcake to either uranium tetrafluoride or uranium trioxide and another to convert to

. Honeywell developed a process known as the dry fluoride volatility conversion process that allows for complete yellowcake to UF₆ at a single facility and also yielding a greater level of UF₆ purity at 99.99% or higher. The dry fluoride volatility conversion process at Metropolis works goes through five basic steps: feed preparation, reduction, hydrofluorination, fluorination, and distillation. * Feed Preparation MDP8867z

The aim of this initial step is to ensure that uranium concentrates have the optimum particle size and density necessary to move forward in the process of conversion. * Reduction During this stage, uranium ore concentrates are converted to

uranium dioxide Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (), also known as urania or uranous oxide, is an oxide of uranium, and is a black, radioactive, crystalline powder that naturally occurs in the mineral uraninite. It is used in nuclear fuel rods in nuclear rea ...

and impurities are removed from the system into a waste gas stream. The sized yellowcake is reacted with hydrogen in a fluidizing medium to form uranium dioxide :+2 → 3 + 2 * Hydrofluorination The UO₂ resulting from the previous reduction stage is then converted into uranium tetrafluoride intermediate (Green Salt) and additional impurities are removed from the system. :+4 → + 2 * Fluorination MTW Picture

The Metropolis Works Plant operates the largest gaseous fluorine capacity in the world. Fluorine is produced in this process by the electrolysis of HF in a potassium bifluoride substrate. The fluorine is pulled to the fluorination process under vacuum so as to increase the safety of this step. The result of this step is crude uranium hexafluoride gas. :+ → * Distillation Finally, uranium hexafluoride from the previous step is purified in a two-stage distillation system. The crude UF₆ is vaporized and transferred through a boiling system into cold traps. After cooling, the final product is filled into

cylinders A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...

for transport. This stage is proprietary Honeywell technology which allows output of 99.99% or greater UF₆.

2012 Required Plant Upgrades

After the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

in 2011, the United States

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...

conducted inspections at all US nuclear facilities for seismic deficiencies and general resistance to natural disasters. Although initial inspections confirmed that the Metropolis Works Facility was in full compliance with its operating license, the NRC shut down the plant in May 2012 and required a series of upgrades to improve resilience to natural disasters including earthquakes and tornadoes. Honeywell elected to complete required upgrades and the plant restarted production of uranium hexafluoride in July 2013, after more than a year offline.

Incidents

2003 UF6 Release

At 2:45 CST on 12/22/03, a small release of Uranium hexafluoride occurred lasting approximately 45 minutes. At 3:00 CST the licensee declared a Site Area Emergency, indicating failure of systems design to prevent risk to the public. All personnel were evacuated within a radius. About 25 people offsite were temporarily evacuated and some 75 persons remained sheltered for a time in their homes. Licensee notified State of Illinois. NRC was notified at 0400 CST. The licensee terminated the Site Area Emergency at 6:50 CST on 12/22/03.

2010 Labor Dispute

At the conclusion of regularly scheduled collective bargaining between Honeywell and United Steelworkers local 7-669, the largest resident union at the Metropolis facility, the company locked out union members when they refused to ratify a new agreement with several concessions. The Union continued to work for seven days without an agreement until the company initiated the lockout on June 28, 2010. The lockout lasted until August 1, 2011, when the union ratified a new three year collective bargaining agreement.

2014 Labor Dispute

After failing to come to an agreement at the expiration of the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, Honeywell locked out the United Steelworkers local 7-669 on August 1, 2014. The lockout ended on March 27, 2015 after the union ratified a new three-year agreement with Honeywell.

2014 UF6 Release

On October 26, 2014, a small amount of uranium hexafluoride was released inside of the facility. Honeywell attributed the accident to an equipment failure and the

began an investigation of the plant to make sure safety procedures were followed. After completing their investigation, the NRC affirmed that the leak was the result of an equipment failure and that the leak was entirely contained within the building. The NRC affirmed that what appeared to be a visible cloud of gas was the result of water cannons which are a part of the emergency response process in the event of a release. After the NRC and Honeywell completed all required procedures and assured that the facility was safe to continue operation, Honeywell Metropolis Works resumed production of UF6 on November 7, 2014.

References

External links

ConverDyn's corporate websiteOfficial facility website
{{coord, 37.171768, N, 88.757039, W, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title Buildings and structures in Massac County, Illinois Companies based in Massac County, Illinois Isotope separation facilities in the United States Uranium Honeywell 1958 establishments in Illinois