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Title: The isolation of lutetium from gadolinium contained in Purex process solutions

Abstract

A chemical separation procedure has been devised to isolate Lu from Purex dissolver solutions containing the neutron poison, Gd. The isolation procedure involves the removal of U and >Pu from a dissolver solution using tributylphosphate solvent extraction. If required, solvent extraction using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid can be employed to further purify the sample be removing alkali and alkali earth elements. Finally, Lu is chromatographically separated from Gd and rare earth fission products on a Dowex 50W-X8 resin column using an alpha-hydroxyisobutyrate eluant. The success of the chemical separation procedure has been demonstrated in the quantitative recovery of as little as 1.4 ng Lu from solutions containing a 5000-fold excess of Gd. Additionally, Lu has been isolated from synthetic dissolver samples containing U, Ba, Cs, and Gd. Thermal emission MS data indicated that the Lu fraction of the synthetic sample was free of Gd interference.

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
7103366
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-12000
ON: DE92040946
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-84OR21400
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; GADOLINIUM; SEPARATION PROCESSES; LUTETIUM; BARIUM; CHROMATOGRAPHY; DISSOLVERS; FISSION PRODUCTS; NITRIC ACID; PROCESS SOLUTIONS; PUREX PROCESS; RARE EARTHS; SOLVENT EXTRACTION; TBP; URANIUM; ACTINIDES; ALKALINE EARTH METALS; BUTYL PHOSPHATES; DISPERSIONS; ELEMENTS; ESTERS; EXTRACTION; HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS; INORGANIC ACIDS; ISOTOPES; MATERIALS; METALS; MIXTURES; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS; PHOSPHORIC ACID ESTERS; RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS; REPROCESSING; SOLUTIONS; 050800* - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing; 400105 - Separation Procedures

Citation Formats

Bostick, D. T., Vick, D. O., May, M. P., and Walker, R. L. The isolation of lutetium from gadolinium contained in Purex process solutions. United States: N. p., 1992. Web. doi:10.2172/7103366.
Bostick, D. T., Vick, D. O., May, M. P., & Walker, R. L. The isolation of lutetium from gadolinium contained in Purex process solutions. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/7103366
Bostick, D. T., Vick, D. O., May, M. P., and Walker, R. L. 1992. "The isolation of lutetium from gadolinium contained in Purex process solutions". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/7103366. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/7103366.
@article{osti_7103366,
title = {The isolation of lutetium from gadolinium contained in Purex process solutions},
author = {Bostick, D. T. and Vick, D. O. and May, M. P. and Walker, R. L.},
abstractNote = {A chemical separation procedure has been devised to isolate Lu from Purex dissolver solutions containing the neutron poison, Gd. The isolation procedure involves the removal of U and >Pu from a dissolver solution using tributylphosphate solvent extraction. If required, solvent extraction using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid can be employed to further purify the sample be removing alkali and alkali earth elements. Finally, Lu is chromatographically separated from Gd and rare earth fission products on a Dowex 50W-X8 resin column using an alpha-hydroxyisobutyrate eluant. The success of the chemical separation procedure has been demonstrated in the quantitative recovery of as little as 1.4 ng Lu from solutions containing a 5000-fold excess of Gd. Additionally, Lu has been isolated from synthetic dissolver samples containing U, Ba, Cs, and Gd. Thermal emission MS data indicated that the Lu fraction of the synthetic sample was free of Gd interference.},
doi = {10.2172/7103366},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/7103366}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992},
month = {Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992}
}