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Currently the separation of gallium from weapons plutonium is achieved using complex aqueous processing involving solvent extraction and ion exchange; this process generates large quantities of wastewater containing radioactive materials. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, researchers have been developing a simpler alternative process referred to as the thermally induced gallium removal (TIGR) process; vaporized gallium suboxide is swept away by passing hydrogen/argon over gallium trioxide/plutonium oxide heated at 1100 °C or higher. During the TIGR process some of the gallium suboxide prematurely decomposes to gallium metal and gallium trioxide, which deposit on furnace and vent surfaces. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]