Thermal Decomposition of Nitrated Tributyl Phosphate

Contact between tributyl phosphate and aqueous solutions of nitric acid and/or heavy metal nitrate salts at elevated temperatures can lead to exothermic reactions of explosive violence. Even though such operations have been routinely performed safely for decades as an intrinsic part of the Purex separation processes, several so-called ``red oil`` explosions are known to have occurred in the United States, Canada, and the former Soviet Union. The most recent red oil explosion occurred at the Tomsk-7 separations facility in Siberia, in April 1993. That explosion destroyed part of the unreinforced masonry walls of the canyon-type building in which the process was housed, and allowed the release of a significant quantity of radioactive material.