The isolation of lutetium from gadolinium contained in Purex process solutions

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7103366· OSTI ID:7103366

Bostick, D. T.; Vick, D. O.; May, M. P.; Walker, R. L.

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.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 7103366
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-12000; ON: DE92040946
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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