I used to work at Western Zirconium where they make the stuff for nuc
reactors. When it catches fire there aint nothing in this world that
will put it out. Sometimes the chips would ignite and they just poured
a big pile of salt over it and waited for it to burn out. The salt
would melt into a hard coating over everything. Oxyacetylene is -NOT-
the way to go. Whenever they welded any they used an electron beam
welder and the zirconium was in a vacuume chamber. Oh yeah, the fumes
are -VERY- corrosive. Every car in the parking lot rusted out in about
two years.
Good luck.