DISSOLUTION OF METAL OXIDES AND SEPARATION OF URANIUM FROM LANTHANIDES AND ACTINIDES IN SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE

Conference · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013

OSTI ID:1116749

Quach, Donna L.; Mincher, Bruce J.; Wai, Chien M.

This paper investigates the feasibility of extracting and separating uranium from lanthanides and other actinides by using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) as a solvent modified with tri-n-butylphosphate (TBP) for the development of a counter current stripping technique, which would be a more efficient and environmentally benign technology for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing compared to traditional solvent extraction. Several actinides (U, Pu, and Np) and europium were extracted in sc-CO2 modified with TBP over a range of nitric acid concentrations and then the actinides were exposed to reducing and complexing agents to suppress their extractability. According to this study, uranium/europium and uranium/plutonium extraction and separation in sc-CO2 modified with TBP is successful at nitric acid concentrations of less than 6 M and at nitric acid concentrations of less than 3 M with acetohydroxamic acid or oxalic acid, respectively. A scheme for recycling uranium from spent nuclear fuel by using sc-CO2 and counter current stripping columns is presented.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1116749
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-13-30459
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
actinide separations
supercritical fluids