APPLICATION OF FORMOHYDROXAMIC ACID IN NUCLEAR PROCESSING: SYNTHESIS AND COMPLEXATION WITH TECHNETIUM-99
Acetohydroxamic acid (AHA) is an organic ligand planned for use in the Uranium Extraction (UREX) process. It reduces neptunium and plutonium, and the resultant hydrophilic complexes are separated from uranium by extraction with tributyl phosphate (TBP) in a hydrocarbon diluent. AHA undergoes hydrolysis to acetic acid which will impede the recycling of nitric acid. During recent discussions of the UREX process, it has been proposed to replace AHA by formohydroxamic acid (FHA). FHA will undergo hydrolysis to formic acid which is volatile, thus allowing the recycling of nitric acid. The reported reduction potentials of AHA and pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup -}) indicated that it may be possible for AHA to reduce technetium, altering its fate in the fuel cycle. At UNLV, it has been demonstrated that TcO{sub 4}{sup -} undergoes reductive nitrosylation by AHA under a variety of conditions. The resulting divalent technetium is complexed by AHA to form the pseudo-octahedral trans-aquonitrosyl (diacetohydroxamic)-technetium(II) complex ([Tc{sup II}(NO)(AHA){sub 2}H{sub 2}O]{sup +}). In this paper, we are reporting the synthesis of FHA and its complex formation with technetium along with the characterization of FHA crystals achieved by NMR and IR spectroscopy. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the complexation of FHA with Tc and the results were compared with previous data on AHA. The first experiment involved the elution of Tc from a Reillex HP anion exchange resin, and the second one monitored the complexation of technetium with FHA by UV-visible spectrophotometry.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1034439
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-11-20847; TRN: US1200822
- Journal Information:
- ASME Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Reduction of Pertechnetate By Acetohydroxamic Acid: Formation of [tc**II(NO)(AHA)(2)(H(2)O)]**+ And Implications for the UREX Process
Reduction of pertechnetate by acetohydroxamic acid: Formation of [TcNO(AHA)2(H2O)]+ and implications for the UREX process.
Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ACETIC ACID
ANIONS
FORMIC ACID
FUEL CYCLE
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROLYSIS
NEPTUNIUM
NITRIC ACID
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
PERTECHNETATES
PLUTONIUM
PROCESSING
RECYCLING
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
SPECTROSCOPY
SYNTHESIS
TBP
TECHNETIUM
TECHNETIUM 99
URANIUM
extraction
formohydroxamic acid
recycling
technetium