Extraction chromatographic separation of minor actinides from PUREX high-level wastes using CMPO

Journal Article · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Nuclear Technology

OSTI ID:109969

Mathur, J N; Murali, M S; Iyer, R H; Ramanujam, A; Dhami, P S; Gopalakrishnan, V; Rao, M K; Badheka, L P; Banerji, A ^[1]

---

1. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay (India)

An extraction chromatographic technique using octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) adsorbed on chromosorb-102 (CAC) has been tested as an alternative to the TRUEX solvent extraction process, where CMPO has been used as the extracting agent to recover minor actinides from high-activity waste (HAW) solutions of PUREX origin. The batchwise uptake behavior of U(VI), Pu(IV), Am(III), Eu(III), Zr(IV), Fe(III), Ru(III), and TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}} from a nitric acid medium by CAC has been studied. The uptake of actinides and lanthanides are higher than those of other fission products and inert materials. The batchwise loading experiments in the presence of Nd(III)/U(VI) have shown that at lower concentrations of these metal ions, the uptake of Pu(IV), U(VI), and Am(III) are reasonably high. Studies on loading of Nd(III), U(VI), and Pu(IV) on a column containing 1.7 g of CAC have shown that Nd(III) (30 mg) and U(VI) (90 mg) could be loaded, while Pu(IV) ({approximately}0.6) was loaded on a small column containing 100 mg of CAC without any break-through. Further, a synthetic HAW solution as such and the actual PUREX HAW solution, after depleting the uranium content by a 30% tributyl-phosphate contact, were loaded on a CAC column. The effluents did not contain any alpha activity above the background level. The activities could subsequently be eluted with 0.0.4 M HNO{sub 3} (americium and rare earths), 0.01 M oxalic acid (plutonium), and 0.25 M Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} [U(VI)]. The recoveries of these metal ions were found to be >99%.

• OSTI ID: 109969
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 109; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
ACTINIDES
ACTIVITY LEVELS
AMERICIUM IONS
EUROPIUM IONS
EXTRACTION CHROMATOGRAPHY
FISSION PRODUCTS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
IRON IONS
NEODYMIUM IONS
NITRIC ACID
PLUTONIUM IONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RARE EARTHS
RUTHENIUM IONS
SODIUM CARBONATES
TECHNETIUM OXIDES
URANIUM IONS
ZIRCONIUM IONS