Complete recovery of actinides from UREX-like raffinates using a combination of hard and soft donor ligands. II. soft donor structure variation

Journal Article · Thu Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/07366299.2015.1064296· OSTI ID:1259499

Zalupski, Peter R. ^[1]; Klaehn, John R. ^[1]; Peterman, Dean R. ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

The feasibility of simultaneous separation of uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, and curium from a simulated dissolved used fuel simulant adjusted to 1.0 M nitric acid is investigated using a mixture of the soft donor bis(bis-3,5-trifluoromethyl)phenyl) dithiophosphinic acid (“0”) and the hard donor synergist trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) dissolved in toluene. The results reported in this work are compared to our recent demonstration of a complete actinide recovery from a simulated dissolved fuel solution using a synergistic combination of bis(o-trifluoromethylphenyl)dithiophosphinic acid (“1”) and TOPO dissolved in either toluene or trifluoromethylphenyl sulfone. While the extraction efficiency of americium was enhanced for the liquid-liquid system containing “0”, enabling to accomplish a trivalent An/Ln separation at 1.0 M HNO3, the extraction of neptunium was drastically diminished, relative to “1”. The partitioning behavior of curium was also negatively impacted, introducing an effective opportunity for americium/curium separation. Radiometric and spectrophotometric studies demonstrate that the complete actinide recovery using the solvent based upon “0” and TOPO is not feasible. Additionally, the importance of radiolytic degradation processes is discussed through the comparisons of extraction properties of liquid-liquid systems based on both soft donor reagents.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1259499
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU--15-34616
• Journal Information: Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange, Journal Name: Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 33; ISSN 0736-6299
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
actinide
diaryldithiophosphinic acid
dithiophosphinic acid
lanthanide
neptunium optical spectroscopy
separation factor
synergic extraction
trioctylphosphine oxide