Mark-18A Loading Capacity and Dilute Acid Rinse of DGA Resin

Technical Report · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2339487· OSTI ID:2339487

Mills, Matthew S. ^[1]; Uba, S. ^[1]

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1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)

Savannah River National Laboratory is developing a separations flowsheet for the recovery of valuable elements from irradiated ²⁴²Pu targets. The primary impetus for this effort is to recover the rich amount of ²⁴⁴Pu contained in the targets, however, the targets also contain other valuable isotopes such as heavy Cm and ^241,243Am. DGA Resin, developed by Eichrom Technologies Inc., was selected to recover these materials from the 7 – 9 M HNO₃ matrix raffinate of the anion exchange process used to separate Pu. The resin has a high affinity for trivalent actinides and rare earth elements (REEs) in moderate to strong nitric acid. After loading the resin, the extracted materials (including Cm and Am) are to be recovered as oxides in a two-step process by thermally drying and reducing the mass and volume of the resin in the process column followed by calcination of the resultant residue. It is desirable to reduce the amount of residual HNO₃ in the resin bed prior to these furnace operations, but the reduced acid concentration is known to lower the distribution coefficients of the components of interest to the extractant. The purpose of this study was to validate the loading capacity of the resin and determine losses to be expected from rinsing the loaded resin with dilute HNO₃.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
• DOE Contract Number: 89303321CEM000080
• OSTI ID: 2339487
• Report Number(s): SRNL--STI-2024-00057
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
Actinide
Lanthanide
Separations