Mo-99 Stripping Results and Column Designs for Mini-Medical Isotope Production System (MIPS)

Technical Report · Wed May 18 04:00:00 EDT 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1132240· OSTI ID:1132240

Youker, Amanda J. ^[1]; Chung, Pei-Lun ^[1]; Krahn, Elizabeth ^[1]; Stepinski, Dominique ^[1]; Gelis, Artem ^[1]; Vandegrift, George F. ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Results from the column tests performed by using small volumes of irradiated solutions as tracers for depleted uranium (DU) solutions containing stable molybdenum (Mo) as Na₂MoO₄ forced us to investigate the stripping parameters needed to obtain full Mo recovery. In an effort to optimize the stripping conditions, several column runs were done by using either 1 M NaOH or NH₄OH as the stripping agent at different velocities. Overall, we obtained very inconsistent results that suggest stripping velocity does not affect Mo recovery as much as originally believed. In addition, we generated 0.1 M HNO₃ breakthrough curves after each run to determine if the performance of the column was changing. Future experiments will utilize columns packed with fresh sorbent after each run. The column designs for the mini-MIPS 5-liter (L) and 20-L experiments employed data obtained from using several different S80 columns at different loading, washing, and stripping velocities. Data were input into the VERSE code, and plant-scale column designs were generated. The mini-MIPS column designs and parameters are a direct downscale of the plant operation, where full Mo adsorption and recovery are expected.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1132240
• Report Number(s): ANL/CSE--13/15
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH