PREPARATION OF HIGH-DENSITY, SPHERICAL THORIUM OXIDE PARTICLES WITH UP TO 10 ATOM PERCENT URANIUM

A discussion is given of a fabrication process for preparing spherical particles of thorium oxides containing 10 wt.% uranium homogenously distributed throughout the thoria matrix from a sol prepared from Th(NO/sub 3/)/sub 4/ reaction with NH/sub 4/OH, in which uranyl nitrate is dissolved. The particles formed are 5 to 50 microns in diameter. The process is felt to be adaptable to large-scale production. (B.O.G.