MOUND LABORATORY PROGRESS REPORT FOR MARCH 1963

Technical Report · Sat Mar 30 04:00:00 EST 1963

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4075546· OSTI ID:4075546

Eichelberger, J F; Grove, G R; Jones, L V; Rembold, E A

Using six hot-wire columns and three concentric tube thermal diffusion columns a cascade system was arranged to produce 0.04 g of 90% C/sup 13/ per day using methane as the feed gas-. The ten liter shipment of purchased methane enriched to 60% C/sup 13/ was received. This gas will be enriched to 90% C/slup 13/. Before removing the equilibrated gas from the concentric tube columns in preparation for using methane enriched in C/sup 13/ as feed material, a sample of methane taken from the bottom of the last column contained greater than 65% C/sup 13/. The hydrolysis of protactinium was found to be completely controllable and reversible and can serve as the basis for its separation from other elements, particularly its decay products. The tendency to hydrolyze is not a unlque characteristic of protactinium, but is exhibited, under appropriate conditions, by Th/sup 227/ and Ra/sup 223/ at trace levels. Traces of protactinium in 1N H/ sub 2/SO/sub 4/ can be removed from solution by a coarse glass wool filter through which the decay products pass readily. The reverse is true if the H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ concentration is increased to 6N. The desorption of protactinium from platinum was a function of the reagent, the reagent concentration, and the amount of protactinium adsorbed. The relative solubility of protactinium in various reagents increased in the order: HNO/sub 3/ < HCl < H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ < H/ sub 2/C/sub 2/O/sub 4/ < HF. Equations for computing the growth of the principal alpha-emitters in the Ac/sup 227/ decay chain were recalculated based on the recently redetermined half lives of Ac/sup 227/, Th/sup 227/, and Ra/sup 223/. Several laboratory experiments on waste disposal problems indicated that radioactivity levels in influent water can be significantly reduced by precipitating aluminum hydroxide as well as bismuth hydroxide in the hydrolysis cell. The aluminum hydroxide effectively removed Zn/sup 65/ from the influent water (Zn/sup 65/ is a major radioactive impurity in irradiated aluminum cans from the polonium process). The solubility product constant of potassium plutonium sulfate in lithium sulfate was determined to be 5.00 plus or minus 0.33 x 10/sup -18/. Additional measurements were made on the stretching effect'' using a quasi-calorimeter built for this purpose. The stretching effect is a change in the thermal properties of materials of construction believed to be related to the coefficient of thermal expansion. Styrofoam for example, has a large stretching effect,'' Lucite has almost none. (auth)

• Research Organization: Mound Lab., Miamisburg, Ohio
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AT(33-1)-GEN-53
• NSA Number: NSA-18-015688
• OSTI ID: 4075546
• Report Number(s): MLM-1152
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACTINIUM 227
ADSORPTION
ALPHA PARTICLES
ALUMINUM HYDROXIDES
BISMUTH HYDROXIDES
BUILDING MATERIALS
CALORIMETERS
CARBON 13
CONTROL
DECAY
ENRICHMENT
EQUATIONS
EXPANSION
FIBERS
FILTERS
FOAMS
GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
GLASS
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
HYDROLYSIS
INHIBITION
ISOTOPES
LITHIUM SULFATES
LUCITE
MEASURED VALUES
METHANE
NITRIC ACID
NUMERICALS
OXALIC ACID
PARTICLE SOURCES
PLATINUM
PLUTONIUM SULFATES
POLYMERS
POLYSTYRENE
POTASSIUM SULFATES
PRECIPITATION
PRODUCTION
PROTACTINIUM
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIUM 223
SOLUBILITY
SOLUTIONS
SULFURIC ACID
THERMAL DIFFUSION
THERMODYNAMICS
THORIUM 227
TRACE AMOU